


Trust in the Force

by cerberus_iona



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Romance, F/F, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Post-Season/Series 05 Finale, Post-Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Rating May Change, Slow Burn, What I wanted Ahsoka's story to be
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2019-09-26 13:38:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17142755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cerberus_iona/pseuds/cerberus_iona
Summary: The war is over; the Empire is in control and the galaxy is in turmoil. As Ahsoka Tano attempts to stay hidden in this era of fear, old enemies and old friends reveal themselves; her world of relative safety is turned upside down. The greatest powers in the galaxy all want her dead, but will her staunch resistance and newfound allies allow her to fight on and start something great?





	1. Small World

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome to my story! I know the Ahsoka novel exists, and I know Season 7 of The Clone Wars is coming in 2019, but I wanted to share how I wanted Ahsoka's after-story to go. Not much here, and don't expect anything extraordinary out of this thing, just a really bad fic from the mind of a weirdo.
> 
> Without further ado, enjoy.

_ The galaxy used to be beautiful, probably, back before everything went to hell, _ Ahsoka sighed and turned the pilot chair away from the window, letting her face fall into shadow as she scanned the interior of the cockpit. It was all a bland sight, nothing special to look at: all the control surfaces were gray, the chairs were gray, the light fixtures were gray, the cockpit window was tinted gray, and the singular light was a blinding hospital-white. The ship was a battered old  _ Questor- _ class freighter she’d bought on the fringes of the black market for cheap, a shining example of Ahsoka’s current situation. After she had left the Jedi Order and her small Grand Army of the Republic salary had disappeared, her work pool dried up after Order 66 hit, and she had to resort to hiding, her money was either stolen or made through the few smuggling groups who would divvy out some work for her. Ahsoka stopped staring at the wall thinking about her monetary predicament and stood up, stretching her arms above her head as she walked over to the closed entry ramp, pressing a button on a small wall console. The metal panel opened, angling down to provide a walkway out of the ship, letting in the humid air of the planet Palanhi.

She was only here while she was waiting for the seller to direct where the shipment she had picked up was going to. By how many relays and encryptions it had to go through, it would take several days for the message to get through, and because of that she had had time to relax for the first time in over six months; Palanhi was under Imperial control, but its relative uselessness barring the central banks in the capital and its innumerable island chains made it a perfect place for Core World smugglers fueling supplies from Bilbringi to Coruscant—Ahsoka included. It wasn’t the ideal form of work, for sure; back in the Clone Wars, Ahsoka would have gotten to the bottom of the operation and stopped it, but now she was doing the work herself. What little orders could be transmitted through to her were her only source of income, however, as it was the only form of work secure enough as to not warrant any questions on her true identity or past.

Ahsoka stepped out, her brown leather boots making a light crunching sound on the gravel beach her ship was perched on, looking comfortably out at the horizon-spanning sea with a large-leafed tree shrouding herself and the freighter in shadow. She had to admit, even with all of the secrecy and the inconsistency, this had to be the most  _ okay _ she had been since the Jedi Purge, after that period of grief when she felt pulse after pulse in the Force grow weak and disappear, after when she had to fake her death to her former employers as she realized they were affiliating themselves with the Empire. Ahsoka rubbed her eyes and stepped back about a metre, resting herself against the landing gear strut and sliding down it until she was in a sitting position against it.

_ You’re okay, everything’s alright. Nothing to worry aboUT—  _ Ahsoka jolted up, eyes wide open and filling with tears as a wave of raw anguish washed over her. She raised a hand to wipe off her now-wet cheeks as she realized these were not her tears, these were tears from the Force; a force-wielder was still there, and somewhat close by. She lifted herself from the ground, feeling suddenly drained, and looked out again at the water in a futile attempt to see the source. Suddenly, though, the sound of her ship’s transmitter pierced the beachside air, causing Ahsoka to scramble up and into the ship once more. In the common room to the right side of the cockpit, a scrambled hologram stood awaiting her arrival.

“ _ I assume you received the shipment from the capital? _ ” the figure asked in an equally-scrambled voice. Ahsoka nodded and put a hand on her hip as she glanced back into the doorway at the packed cargo bay.

“One reactivated Commando Droid painted white and gold for their new owner, four hundred kilos of frozen bacta, and enough Republic rations to feed an entire city. That is the cargo, yes?” she confirmed, listing these off on her fingers.

“ _ Correct. I do, however, have a special order. Just came into Palanhi from Coruscant, _ ” her employer droned, a picture of an inconspicuous-looking shuttle appearing on the holotable.

“I have a little more room,” Ahsoka leaned on the table, “what is it?”

“ _ I know you’re good at evading the Empire, your stunt with the Star Destroyers at Alsakan proves it. As well, your ship was customized with a basic stealth matrix to avoid basic short-range radar and magnetic tracking, is this right? _ ”

“It is,” Ahsoka huffed at her employer’s evasion, “what’s the job?”

“ _ How good are you at housing  _ people _? _ ” Ahsoka was taken aback by this. She had made it quite punctual in her contract that human trafficking was not something she was going to do at  _ all _ . That being said, as she mulled over this, a credit symbol followed by a one with  _ several  _ zeros after it appeared, very quickly drawing her attention.

“This isn’t non-consensual, is it?”

“ _ I wouldn’t have contacted you otherwise. No, one of my contacts on Coruscant needs themselves and a code red ferried out of the galactic core. _ ” For a second time, Ahsoka stopped. Code reds were one of three things: fugitives, force-sensitives, or both, and  _ they were on Palanhi _ . 

_ Probably the cause of that Force pulse? _ Ahsoka thought for a moment, putting a finger to her temple.

“Where do they need to go?”

“ _ The only orders they gave were ‘Outer Rim’. So, go to any fringe-world spaceport and dump them off. This is, according to them, quite a sensitive cargo, so I only look to you for your consistent good missions and your punctual conciseness. Don’t screw it up,” _ they said before cutting the transmission. A set of coordinates appeared on the holotable, and Ahsoka huffed at them. 

_ I didn’t even say yes _ , she thought, walking over to the cockpit and inputting the numeric sequence into the central console. It wasn’t far, only about twenty kilometres east to another one of the medium-sized islands. Reluctantly closing the boarding ramp—she desperately wanted time to meditate—she pushed forward on a lever to her right and put the engines to twenty-percent thrust. The freighter lifted off the ground with a groan, kicking up sand and dust and creating a great tan cloud around the ship as she pulled the main joystick back and forced the ship forward. As the aging, formerly-Republic Navy craft leveled out over the seemingly endless water, Ahsoka turned on autopilot and kicked back to gaze up at the turquoise afternoon sky. She had noticed her change in character very quickly after Order 66. Before the end of the Clone Wars, she remembered being a quick-witted, hot-headed, ill-tempered worker with little to lose. Now, she didn’t know what to think; all of her connections to the Jedi Temple after her leaving were, of course, either dead or in hiding, and her mood had soured considerably over the last few months to the point that she didn’t really remember much.

“Maybe having someone to talk to might be good for me,” Ahsoka muttered to herself, “that is, if they want to talk.”

The console beeped, signalling that she was nearing her destination, and Ahsoka took the ship off autopilot. In front of her, a mere dot on the horizon, was a one-by-one kilometre island surrounded by a sandbar lagoon. Seeing a second ship landed in the shallows on a raised area of sand, Ahsoka brought the freighter down next to it, extending the landing gear and setting it on the soft ground with little more than a small bump. Looking out of the cockpit window at the dormant ship, Ahsoka debated on bringing a blaster  _ just in case _ . She decided against it. Walking once again to the entry ramp and extending it, going down it before covering her eyes from the blinding Palanhian sun. The shuttle opposite her opened its side door, and out came a humanoid figure in a cloak armed with a DC-15S, keeping their face in the dark as they approached. It wasn’t fooling anyone, and especially Ahsoka, that the figure was wearing Clone Trooper armour under the cloak; she’d served for years alongside them, it was fairly obvious. She got on the defensive as she approached, very aware of what was going on with Jedi in the galaxy. Abruptly, the figure stopped and pointed the rifle at her, looking quite wary of the situation. 

“Commander Tano?” the now easily-identified clone asked. Ahsoka shook her head but put her hands over her head, ready to use the Force if he moved the wrong way or tried to confirm his suspicions. _ Still calling me Commander even though I left the war. _

“No idea who you’re calling ‘commander’. Who’re you?”

“CT-7567,  _ Rex _ ,” he replied, pulling off the hood to reveal his aging, blonde-haired head. Ahsoka froze for a moment, still thinking Rex was going to shoot her, before slowly stepping forward.

“Don’t know anyone named Rex,” Ahsoka tried to keep up, “you might want to move along.”

“Those orders don’t affect me, Commander,” he hastily said, before realizing what he was doing and threw his gun to the ground. Ahsoka looked at the gun before slowly turning back to Rex, staring intently at his eyes for anything out of the ordinary—of course, they were trained to mask emotions, so she didn’t really get anywhere. Still, she felt… safe. Ahsoka’s involuntary frown turned slowly into a smile, and she soon found herself in the brotherly embrace of the clone. But yet, there was a question she needed to ask that had been eating at her since the end of the war, and here was her opportunity.

“Why did they do it, Rex?”

“Ma’am?”

“Why did the clones obey the order?” Rex seemed to tense up, causing Ahsoka to look down at him questioningly. Slowly, almost  _ painfully _ , he turned his head, revealing a thin scar near the centre of the right side.

“Control chips. All this—the war, the clones, everything—was some elaborate scheme to kill off the Jedi, probably by the Emperor, but a few of us became…  _ enlightened _ , and removed the chip before the order was given.” Ahsoka took a moment to process this, the sudden realization that her last few years had all been a lie. She decided that she had time to think on it later.

“We… we will need to talk about this,” she let go and stepped back, “but what are you doing here, though? I’m here to pick up a, uh, shipment.”

“Oh, I have the shipment. Wolffe and I broke out what few Jedi were left imprisoned on Coruscant,” he began, looking away and trailing off.

“So why do I only have orders for two people, including yourself?”

“Only one wanted to go. That being said, I was not particularly happy about guarding her nor moving her with other people, especially  _ you _ . But I had and still have orders to protect the remaining Force-wielders at all costs, so I have to.”

“I beg your pardon?” Rex sighed and turned around, cupping his hands to call back to his shuttle.

“You can come out now!” he yelled, reaching down and picking up his rifle. Tentatively, a second figure emerged from the ship, clad in black and dark purple with a headscarf, handcuffed. A second pulse in the Force made Ahsoka feel the same anguish as before, and she stumbled back a few steps. Ahsoka looked from Rex’s worried face to the person and connected the dots, her mouth slowly dropping open.

_ Barriss. _


	2. Times Have Changed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a fair bit broken up. Didn't know how to work the scenes together, so we have a little jump near the end. Enjoy.

The two stared at each other for a long time; several minutes, at least. Barriss was immobile even as Rex prodded her, and Ahsoka was unwilling to look away due to her surprise. A weary look painting his lightly wrinkled face, Rex resorted to pulling Barriss along by her cuffs, breaking both former-Jedi out of their trances. Ahsoka followed the clone as he pulled Barriss onto the ramp, glancing back at Rex’s shuttle before closing it.

“So my orders were that I need to ferry you both to the Outer Rim. What about your shuttle?” she asked, coming up next to Rex.

“Before we leave, I’ll pick up the last of my supplies, but I’m leaving it. An executive shuttle carrying a fugitive and a runaway? We need,” Rex sighed, his face softening as he looked over his commanding officer, “we need a ship that isn’t as obvious.”

“Right,” Ahsoka walked into the cockpit and flicked a few switches on a console, turning the heat and lights on in the captain’s quarters that she never used, “Rex, take her to your left and through the doors to the room in the back.”

“Yes ma’am,” he replied, following Ahsoka’s directions through the crew bunks and into the moderately-sized room. Sitting down in the pilot’s chair, she spun around with her arms cradling the back of her head. About a minute later, she heard her cabin’s door hiss closed and Rex sauntered in, armour clanking loudly against the floor as he sat in the co-pilot’s seat, facing Ahsoka with a neutral expression.

“Well?”

“She’s asleep,” Rex reported, letting out a breath he probably didn’t know he was holding. Ahsoka had to smile for a moment; after everything that happened, after he’d lived through the end of the war, after she’d gone away to smuggle supplies instead of helping the galaxy, Rex still looked to her for orders.

“So, what are you all planning to do once I…,” she paused, “once I get us to the Rim?”

“Well, I was… uh,” Rex trailed off, furrowing his brow, “I was going to let _her_ go and then make myself scarce. I’ll find credits somehow. What?” Ahsoka had been staring at him while he answered, a small grin growing on her face.

“Rex, you’re on a perfectly good ship equipped with a stealth drive with an old friend who just so happens to be extraordinarily lonely out in the inky black. Welcome aboard,” she said, extending a hand out. Rex met this, and shook it heartily with a little chuckle.

“Thank you, Commander- er, uh, Lady Tano?”

“You know it’s not ‘commander’ anymore, and I’m definitely not going by ‘Lady Tano’, thanks. Just Ahsoka,” she corrected, turning to the controls. “How is… how is Barriss? What happened?”

“Well, since Wolffe left to go back undercover and the two of us evaded the Coruscant fleets, she’s been extraordinarily tired. I’m, of course, on edge with the knowledge of what she’s done, but me getting her out sure as hell beats leaving her to die in a Force-suppressing cortosis box,” Rex rubbed his head while speaking, deep in thought. “She fought me, you know; it’s what made me trust her enough to break her out.”

“Oh?”

“She said that she deserved to die in there, and that what she was happy with how they had been treating her. Said she was done with the war, and everything,” he balled his hand into a fist, “I’d been monitoring camera footage before we broke in—one meal a day of a nutrient bar and half a litre of water before being cuffed to the wall again. No light except when the door opened, et cetera. Completely unmonitored prison, the guards could do what they wanted.”

“That’s _horrific_.”

“When Wolffe and I got to her, she was unbound in the centre of the room pretty damn well beaten. We had to get a couple stimpacks on her just to keep her awake enough to get her out. She didn’t trust us, and she kept saying no one was out there that cared. Truth is, I told her we’d try and contact you, since I knew you were friends. She agreed. Once we got to the Outer Rim we were going to try for the relays and reach out to you, but… well, here you are.”

“I— wow. _I_ was what convinced her to go? I thought she’d be… oh,” a third wave of pain erupted out of the Force, much stronger this time, and Ahsoka stood up to finally talk to its creator.

“She must be awake again. Do you need me to come with you? I can’t be sure that she’ll—”

“I’ll be fine, Rex.” Ahsoka stumbled out of the cockpit, legs weak under her, and practically felt her way over to the captain’s quarters, pressing the button next to the door to open it. The metal slab slid open, revealing a still-asleep Barriss laying on the bunk next to the far wall. Her shoulders lurched back and forth, eyes wet with fresh tears, and mouth wheezing out breaths as she wept in her repose. Stepping left and slumping against the wall, Ahsoka gazed upon her former peer warily, still unsure of what would happen if she woke her; then again, it had only been five minutes, Ahsoka had never been able to fall asleep that quickly _ever_. She was right.

“A-Ahsoka?” Barriss croaked, moving her cuffed wrists to the edge of the bunk. Ahsoka shifted herself along the floor to Barriss, pulling out a more _quality_ nutrient bar, snapping it in half and handing one piece to her. The black-clad woman grunted in thanks and sat up a little, leaning against the polarised window at the head of the bed. For the moment, both of them ate in silence like the old days, and Ahsoka felt a pang of sorrowful nostalgia.

“This ship can be your new home, if you so wish,” Ahsoka stated slowly, turning her head to face the small Mirialan.

“I—” Barriss’ face contorted into one of sadness and confusion, “why are you _helping me_?”

“You’re… all that’s left. You did some bad things; to others, to yourself, to _me_ , but right now we’re it. And we need to help each other. Sure, we’ll need to have a fine talk about the past, but, well, we need to stay in the here and now. Here you are and here I am, right?” Ahsoka sat on the bed and made eye contact with Barriss. “I’m helping you because I care.”

“But I’ve done, as you said, some really bad things. I thank Rex for breaking me out, but I can’t accept being given help where I do not deserve it,” she began to ramble, “I killed people, Ahsoka, _innocent_ people, just to sate my desire to get out of the mental hell that was the war. I just wanted to leave but couldn’t find my way out, what could I have done? What could I have done, Ahsoka? I should have just asked to leave the order, it would’ve worked. But… but then Luminara would have looked so low upon me and I wouldn’t be able to continue with my studies—” Ahsoka put a hand on Barriss’ shoulder, still staring into her eyes.

“Stop,” she ordered, waiting for Barris’ breathing to normalise before continuing, “Barriss, you need to accept the fact _right now_ I want to help you. What you did back then is inexcusable, and you rightfully served your time, even with your beliefs then, but what I need right now is you to think of the future. With my ship, and now with the help of two old friends, we might be able to make a difference out here.”

“But you can’t trust me,” she started to breathe faster, “I can’t even trust myself.”

“Those will both mend with time,” Ahsoka snaked her arm around the Mirialan and pulled her closer, “just trust that I believe in you to grow beyond your past. It’s the only time, I think, that you’ll ever hear me quote our teachings: it’s time to let go.” Barriss was silent again, pressing herself into the much warmer woman with an almost scared expression painting her face. She was pale; her normally celadon-coloured skin was closer to white than green, and her normal blush under her facial tattoos was missing, making her face look almost ghostly in comparison to how Ahsoka remembered her during the war.

“Thank you, Ahsoka,” Barriss began, mouth open like she was going to say more, but then stopped. Ahsoka, realising the slightly awkward position the two had been sitting in, scrambled off the bed into a standing position. Leaning over, she gently pushed Barriss back onto the bunk and pulled one of the blankets off of a rack above the desk next to her. Unfolding it, Ahsoka draped it over the small woman and smiled at Barriss as she was pulled back into the arms of sleep. Notably soothed now that Barriss was once again unconscious to the world, she opened the door and walked back to the cockpit, where Rex was putting back together one of his pistols he’d field-stripped; must’ve gotten the stuff from his shuttle while she was gone. Looking up, he set down the blaster and gave an informal salute, Ahsoka collapsing with a huff into the pilot’s chair without reply.

“How’re we going to do this, Rex?” she asked suddenly, turning the chair to face the clone. “I still have a job to do, but I’m not so sure I can head back to Coruscant to finish it, and… well, I don’t want to endanger you both.”

“Don’t worry about it, Ahsoka. I’ll be fine, and as long as Offee’s strapped in she should be alright as well. Do what you think is good, and if getting your rightfully-earned credits is something you think is good, so be it.”

“Right,” Ahsoka replied, “well then, off we go.” She flicked a switch, and the main systems came on. With a few more pushes of levers and a quick sequence into the console in front of her, the freighter was once again back in the air and ready for another trip. Ahsoka punched in a few numbers into the navicomputer, selected the location _Coruscant_ , and put the sub-light engines to full while the machine figured out their hyperspace jump. Clouds whizzed past them, becoming a blur from blue to black as the freighter forced its way through the lower atmosphere.

 

\---

 

As Rex finished his routine cleaning of his armour and weapons, the cockpit once again drew to its normal silence. It was a routine Ahsoka remembered all to clearly—she left the Order and the war only about a year before—being repeated by every clone of the 501st during the short quiet times before campaigns. Ahsoka looked over at Rex, examining him as he stared at the console he was in front of for any anomalies. His face was alike to all of the other clones she had met, of course, with the deep sand-brown skin and defined features of Jango Fett, and yet to her it was all the more different. His bleached hair, of course, was a stand-out feature well-known as an identifier for the venerated Clone Captain, a new blade scar along his left cheek was another, but it was also held in his personality. When she’d entered the war as a scared fourteen-year-old padawan, Rex had been the only clone to treat her as more than just another Jedi officer. Through her career she’d learned to trust the man as a brother and a dear friend; if only she’d known how the war would end.

“Where were you?” she asked, turning her montral-shrouded head. Rex set down his helmet, the visor of which was still half-coated in cleaning fluid, and gave a deep sigh. He knew what she was asking.

“Near the end, after Darth Maul had taken over Mandalore, a battalion of the 501st was sent along with an invasion force to reclaim it. With Sergeant Appo being given a field promotion to Captain by General Skywalker and detachments being taken away, the 501st’s numbers waned—I was finally transferred away from your master,” Rex paused in thought, “I never saw him again.”

“I…,” Ahsoka choked up at the mention of Anakin, a man she hadn’t heard anything about since the Republic side of the Clone Wars came to an abrupt close, “what was the order? I only heard… well, _rumours_.”

“Executive Order Number 66 is an order programmed into those chips, along with all of the others that we were forced to comply with through the war. You know some of them, you gave them sometimes. Hell, when General Krell made his betrayal back on Umbara, that was technically labeled as under Order 66 in my after-action report,” he took his helmet back from the console and continued to scrub it down as Ahsoka processed this. “He wasn’t the only Jedi I had to watch die.”

“What?”

“General Iri Camas was the commander for the navy forces during the Siege of Mandalore. He was in the hangar with the 501st briefing us before we were to be sent down to aid the resisting clans in their fight and, well, the order was given. I’d removed my chip, so I acted like I froze up, but troopers up front—Kano, Ridge, Jesse—they all went ahead,” he put his helmet on, “I couldn’t do anything.”

“Did he at least go quickly?”

“I don’t know, Ahsoka, I hope he did.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now I need to figure out where to go from here... Barrissoka must live, but first we need to get Ahsoka and Rex's stories straight while Barriss is still out cold.


	3. Mind Games

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lied, I didn't keep Barriss out cold. But I am forming a plot, finally. That's good, right?

“ _ You were my  _ brother _ , Anakin! I loved you! _ ”

Ahsoka woke with a start, chest heaving as another vivid dream faded away into the recesses of her mind. She was still in the cockpit chair, the arm digging into her side as she had slumped over it, and looked over to see Rex still awake leaning over his console while typing something. Ahsoka thought back to when she was last awake; they had talked about that order, Order 66, the ship had gone to hyperspace, and she’d apparently fallen asleep.

“Good evening, Ahsoka,” Rex said, leaning back. Ahsoka sat up with a groan and unstrapped herself from the seat; the harness was useless now that they were in hyperspace. 

“Evening, Rex. What time is it? How long have I been out?”

“You’ve been out a few hours. It’s a little after twenty-one hundred Coruscant time,” Rex peered out the cockpit window, “we’re about halfway there.”

“Good,” Ahsoka replied, reactivating her control surface. She tapped out her password, and a holographic map of their route appeared. True to his word, the freighter was coming up on Borleias, a largely uninhabited star three major systems away from Coruscant.

“Offee woke up again, by the way, she’s still in the room.”

“Right,” Ahsoka stood, “well, you okay taking control?” Rex nodded, and Ahsoka took that as her leave, walking for the second time to the captain’s quarters. It was silent as she approached, little more than the low rumblings of hyperspace interrupting it. She came closer and knocked, receiving no response. As she went for a second knock, Barriss’ voice finally muffled its way through the metal.

“ _ Come in _ ,” she said, sounding unsure. The door slid open, revealing Barriss still laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling with her hands above the cover. Ahsoka cringed, looking at her lower arms, and with a little pull from the Force the cuffs slid off and fell to the floor. Looking quite surprised—and, quite frankly,  _ disturbed _ —from the wordless action, Barriss examined her lighter green wrists intently. Ahsoka almost smiled at her before sitting on the bed, her face once again turning neutral.

“This is step one to building our trust back,” Ahsoka stated, reaching her hands out to grab Barriss’, “please work with me.”

“I will, Ahsoka,” she whispered, “I just need time.”

“You have plenty of that, I assure—”

“ _ Ahsoka, I need you in the cockpit! The nav computer’s been sent a kill order; we’re exiting hyperspace in thirty seconds! _ ”

“What?” Ahsoka asked aloud, standing from the bed. Barriss sighed and slowly sat up, moving her legs to the edge of the bed.

“Can I?” she asked, arms bracing herself to stand. Ahsoka nodded and wrapped an arm around Barriss, helping her up. Ahsoka jogged over to the cockpit with the other quickly in tow, Barriss’ run turning into a slight limp as she slowed.

“Who sent the order?” Ahsoka queried, sliding into her chair and holding a headset to her large head; static. Rex was rapidly typing on his console, old ARC-170 training kicking in as he attempted to counteract the outside command.

“Unknown, it’s not a Republic, Separatist, or Imperial frequency  _ I  _ know of,” he relayed, slamming his fist into his thigh as the console flashed red.

“Strap in,” Ahsoka ordered, re-harnessing herself. Rex nodded and did the same, turning around as Barriss managed to get herself into the third seat in front of the sensor screens. The ship lurched for a moment, and the swirls of the alternate dimension faded to black as they were forced into realspace. In front of them was a  _ Venator _ -class Star Destroyer in Imperial gray with a long blue stripe down the dorsal hangar door.

“Core Worlds Fleet,” Rex squinted, “it’s the  _ Interceptor _ , I believe.”

“Fitting,” Ahsoka grimly joked, “how did they find us?”

“No idea. It was a high-class order from one of the galactic hyperspace relays. No way to block it. Our hyperdrive needs ten minutes to recharge and recalculate,” Rex said, “I think this tech is new, or we would’ve used this during Sullust.”

“This ship is too slow to out-run Republic fighters, and the  _ Venator _ ’s cannons can reach well outside of our effective sublight range.”

“Great,” Rex muttered, “I guess we have to get close.”

“Close? I seem to remember dozens of Vulture Droids being annihilated by the anti-starfighter cannons on Star Destroyers. I don’t think we’ll fare much better.”

“We still have a better chance flying circles around them than being out here in the open.”

“Rex, this ship can’t handle more than a few hits from those cannons, and my energy shields aren’t exactly top-of-the-line!”

The  _ Venator  _ loomed in the distance, its twin bridges lighting up blue as the ship-to-ship cannons under them began to fire, sending charged streaks across the several hundred kilometres of space between the two combatants. Ahsoka, interrupted from her argument, spun the freighter on its ‘horizontal’ axis, setting the sublight engines to full as she silently accepted Rex’s rationality. The first two shots missed, hissing past the ship with a hard shockwave that sent a rumble surging through the walls. The third grazed the ventral hull, skimming the energy shielding and discolouring the gray paint to black.

“Kriff, the bottom shields are at ten percent already,” Rex cursed, flipping a switch to divert some of the rear power to the ventral.

“I told you!” Ahsoka exclaimed, “I have two forward guns, take control of them and fire back!”

“Got it, Ahsoka!” Rex confirmed, pulling down the targeting scope from the ceiling. Setting his eyes against it and his fingers on the triggers, red shots met blue in the dark, lighting up space as both lines dissipated into nothingness.

“Good shot,” she complimented, “I didn’t even know you could stop tibana beams.”

“We do now,” he replied, a small grin spreading on his face. The  _ Venator _ ’s shields flashed indigo as Rex landed shots on it, making the destroyer the brightest thing in their visible space for a split second. Ahsoka spun again, letting another cannon barrage go past them before going hard to starboard, surging past the  _ Venator  _ before turning around hastily. Now, with minimal cannons facing them, they were behind the ship. Ahsoka knew her ships well, she’d commanded a few, and positioned the freighter in the weapon shadow of the destroyer, lowering the engine speed.

“They’ll launch fighters any minute now. To do that, they’ll have to—”

“Lower ray shields and raise deflectors. Got it, Rex. Fire on their hyperspace engines when they do, ‘kay?”

“Yeah, exactly what I was gonna say.”

“Rex, we both know our strategies. It’s the same thing as a  _ Munificent _ ,” Ahsoka reminisced, thinking back to her many days spent in her Jedi starfighter engaging Separatist capital ships on the front lines. The two smaller engines above the the main ones were the most important and most vulnerable of the  _ Venator _ -class, being their only source of escape from battle without assistance. That was their most important target. 

The rear two anti-ship cannons still were able to fire on them, but without the concentrated firepower of the other six it was easy to evade while they waited. Then, as the  _ Venator _ powered its engines to full, its ray shields lowered, and a flight of V-Wings circled around the bow from the massive topside door. Simultaneously, Rex rapidly pulled the triggers, letting loose a volley of thirty shots each on the exposed hyperspace engines. The deflectors only absorbed five or so on each nacelle before giving way and erupting in light as the metal underneath warped and convulsed under fire. Before they turned away to begin their escape, Rex gave a small cheer as he realised their current enemy was stuck.

“V-Wings inbound, on point one-three. I’ve never  _ fought  _ these, how do we evade?” Ahsoka asked, re-diverting power to the aft shielding and turning the engines to full before flipping around.

“What’s the one-eighty turning time for this ship?”

“Uh, around five seconds, why? It’s modified so I can get through asteroid belts easier.”

“No, that’s good. That means, surprisingly, you’re able to  _ out-turn  _ those fighters,” Rex smiled, removing his face from the scope.

“What?!” Ahsoka exclaimed, looking at the clone with her eyebrows raised.  _ That was a new one. _ But, as smaller shots began to pelt the rear shields she had to take his word for it, going into a steep incline to flip behind the incoming Imperial V-Wings. Even in the adrenaline rush of the quickly-forming battle, Ahsoka had to take a moment to see  _ who  _ they were fighting. Peering over to the rear camera, she quickly magnified the cockpit of the gray-blue squadron leader trying to pick out the pilot. During the Clone Wars, she’d followed her orders and eliminated every Vulture Droid and Tri-Fighter she’d been given the chance to—they’d been programmed to kill without a second thought—but when it came to living people she always hesitated. But alas, with the customary mask completing the pressurised suit necessary for piloting a V-Wing, it was impossible to tell.

“Aft starboard shields are down to sixty-two percent, Ahsoka,” Rex stated, watching cautiously as she attempted again to get behind one of the forward fighters. 

“Rex, get ready to fire!” Ahsoka ordered, lining up perfectly on a straggling V-Wing. The clone looked back to the screen and rapidly pulled the triggers, ripping off the V-Wing’s four stabilisers as it careened helplessly forward before its core imploded, erupting in a split second of flame before fading into ash. The lead fighters, probably the wing commanders, waved off to form up, and Ahsoka was once again in a climb to get around them. Individually, her shields could easily out-charge the V-Wing’s shots, but as a formation their firepower was beginning to eat through. Knowing this, Ahsoka went full reverse, letting them get in front of her as Rex took out another two. This was, however, no great effect on the enemy formation, as they simply came around and continued to rip through the shields with horrific efficiency. 

“Ahsoka,” Rex’s voice grew worried as he glanced down at the shield readings.

“I know, I know, I see it!” she replied, turning one final time before gunning it forward, briefly outrunning the V-Wings as she turned sideways and went  _ between  _ the  _ Venator _ ’s bridges. Flying against the gray surface, a majority of the anti-fighter cannons didn’t have a shot on her without going through some piece of the ship, an advantage Ahsoka took with a grin. As she sped past, the dorsal hangar attempted to close, but was stopped as Rex shot out the hydraulics, leaving the vulnerable interior exposed with several ARC-170s stranded on-deck.

“Side and ventral hangars have LAATs and shuttles, if we can just take out these V-Wings and last another five minutes, we’ll be safe,” Rex called out, turning to a console next to him with system statistics. Ahsoka’s forming grin disappeared as she glanced at her screen, though, noticing a massive  _ something  _ about to drop from hyperspace. In front of them, directly behind the  _ Venator _ , two _ Recusant _ -class light destroyers and a  _ Providence _ -class dreadnought appeared, instantly filling the empty space with a barrage of red cannon shots.

“Seppies off our bow!” Ahsoka yelled, forcing Rex away from his screen as he gaped at the warships.

“ _ How _ ? The droid army shut down! There shouldn’t be any left!” he sputtered. The inter-ship comm channel crackled to life, and a man’s voice came through.

“ _ Freighter, you have landing clearance on our main hangar bay. Two Vulture Droids will guide you in, _ ” came an order, followed by a low rumble as the  _ Providence  _ locked them in a tractor beam.

“Well, kriff,” Rex sighed, glancing sidelong at Ahsoka. Ahsoka put her face into her hands and muttered under her breath before spinning her chair while throwing her arms up. The rear shields continued to lower as the V-Wings kept on pursuit beyond the tractor beam, and the two promised Vulture Droids came up next to the freighter with two identical robotic growls through the mic. Ahsoka perked up, however, when she heard an impact from behind her. Rising from her seat, hand still embedded in the metal of a console buffer, Barriss sported a face of raw emotion. It scared Ahsoka.

“Get AWAY FROM US!” Barriss screamed. Then everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No one's gonna die. NO ONE'S GONNA DIE. I promise.


	4. Enemy of My Enemy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Plot twists? Maybe. First moment of Barrissoka? Yup. Good chapter? Maybe. Plz read.

“Vitals are stable, sir, one is waking up,” Ahsoka heard a droid call.  _ A  _ Battle  _ Droid? _

“Good, I’ll take it from here, Lieutenant,” the same man’s voice from the comms replied. The ship! She wasn’t on her ship! Ahsoka’s eyes shot open, and sat up with a fervor she hadn’t felt since the latter days of her time in the war. She was in a bed, a medical bunk, in a blindingly white room surrounded by different scanners and machines. In front of her, standing calmly, was a middle-aged human man in a highly decorated CIS uniform, hands folded behind him with a neutral expression. Looking with her wide peripheral vision, Ahsoka saw Barriss unconscious on the next bunk over, and Rex even further. The man cleared his throat, and the former Jedi narrowed her eyes before daring to speak.

“What am I doing here?”

“First you may want to know the who and the where, Commander Tano,” he said smartly, hands moving to his front to reveal his cybernetic right arm. “My name is Archamae Valakor, Confederate Admiral. You are currently aboard the carrier-destroyer  _ Lucid Voice _ in hyperspace towards Serenno. Now I may answer  _ your  _ query, Jedi; you’re here because you needed my help, and are one of my most prized assets.”

“‘Assets’, Admiral? I don’t think we’ve ever met, nor would I  _ ever _ work for your cause,” Ahsoka spat, now realising just how many Battle Droids were standing outside of the glass door behind Valakor. He took a moment to give a deep laugh, bowing his head before coming back up with a grin.

“Ah, but you do, and we have—I believe my latest orders were for a Commando Droid, four hundred kilos of bacta, and as you said, ‘enough Republic rations to feed a city’ to be transferred to a discrete loading dock on Coruscant’s level nine-oh-one?”

“What, you’re—,” Ahsoka sputtered out, stance faltering as the realised who she was talking to. She’d signed an anonymity agreement when she’d joined up with her smuggling gig, no questions asked; she didn’t, of course, know that her boss was a Separatist admiral.

“If you’re wondering how I knew who you were with our agreement in place, it was quite easy,” his grin turned into a lopsided smirk, “you don’t encrypt your holo-transmissions, I had a facial scan done as soon as I saw you.” Of course he would, and of course she wouldn’t have thought of something so  _ obvious _ . She and her master had been the faces of the Republic military back in those days, every person aware of the Holonews knew who the great Ahsoka Tano was.

“Where’s my ship?” she tried, desperately trying to assess her situation.

“I can assure you that it is safe in our hangar, as well as getting a few repairs and upgrades by my droids. Whether you return to it after this conversation is up to you, however.” Well, that was  _ definitely  _ not a reassuring or safe response, but it was something.

“That glass is blaster-proof, you’re alone, and I have the Force on my side,” Ahsoka looked around freely, “why don’t I kill you?”

“Ah there are several reasons, Commander Tano. One, you are surrounded by over a million droids of different, equally deadly types. Two, you wouldn’t be getting any more payments which I know you desperately need. Three, I have studied your Jedi mantras and texts, that would violate lines six, seven, and eight of the Jedi Code,” he paused, “and if you killed me now, I wouldn’t be able to propose my plan, now, would I?” The look on his face was passable at best, and why he kept referencing to her Jedi past was beyond her, but Ahsoka still sat back waiting for him to continue.

“Go on,” she said tentatively, not  _ exactly  _ wanting to provoke him further. 

“Both of us are, to the Empire, war criminals,” he began, his smirk deepening, “and there’s no way in nine hells that we’re going to be able to fight them on equal fronts; we don’t have the firepower, or the manpower.  _ Right? _ ”

“There’s a reason I turned to smuggling, Admiral,” Ahsoka replied, crossing her arms.

“That was a rhetorical question, Jedi, because I have the answers to both issues.”

“And how’s that? The Separatist fleet was battered by the end of the war, the Hutts haven’t had a fleet in centuries, Republic units were transferred to the Empire, and the Katana Fleet is  _ somewhere _ out there,” she relayed, thinking of some notable potential naval powers outside of the Republic.

“The Clone Wars-era Separatist fleet is currently over Serenno, in its fractured entirety, yes,” he nodded, “but that doesn’t mean your Republic shut down  _ all  _ of our wartime shipyards.”

“You want to rebuild your fleet.”

“Not ‘want to’, Commander Tano, I already am. Countess Shala approved of my vision, and several battlegroups are under construction. I have crews—my droids number in the hundreds of millions—but I cannot make strategic actions nor anticipate attacks without prior intelligence.”

“What’s your point?”

“I need an informant, Commander.”

“A spy.”

“If that’s what you want to see it as, then yes,” he held out his robotic hand to help her out of the medical bunk. Ahsoka accepted it and came to a nervous but prepared stance, hand hovering a little bit above her hip instead of draping down.

“Why do you need  _ me _ ? Wouldn’t it be more fitting to, oh I don’t know, get someone who isn’t a kriffing war criminal?”

“Your criminality is only a figment of one side’s corrupted view. As I said, we’re both criminals in their eyes. I don’t think anyone outside of the blind Coruscanti public and the average brainwashed Clone Trooper believes you’re a  _ bad  _ person, if I’m being completely honest,” he thought for a moment, “okay, maybe Countess Shala might, you  _ did  _ personally destroy several hundred of her funded Battle Droids through the war.”

“So, what do  _ we  _ get out of this?” Ahsoka asked, gesturing to the still-unconscious individuals next to her. Rex and Barriss might be staying with her indefinitely now, but the only thing keeping her old ship together was the almighty galactic credit.

“Trust me when I say your account will be  _ fine _ . I can double your old rate off the start, and if you give me some particularly  _ appetising  _ information, there may be room for negotiation.” Ahsoka froze.  _ Double?! _ She already made a considerable amount by normal smuggling, even if her jobs were few and far between; double that would make her on the lesser end of rich if she continued to live like she normally did. The offer was tempting, and it’s not like she or the other two were bad at spying—they’d all done at least one recon mission during the war successfully—but there were still questions.

“What are you planning to  _ do  _ once your fleet is rebuilt?”

“Ah, transparency is what you want. Well, of course, I can’t tell you all of my strategies, but I can elaborate more on their general purposes. The first order of business is securing Serenno better than it already is, because if it’s only protection is a couple hundred  _ Munificent _ ’s and a smattering of larger, old capital ships, we’re going to collapse in months,” he frowned at this idea, “the Empire won’t recognise our sovereignty for long, if Mon Cala is what their standard protocol is.”

“And the second?”

“Expand the Confederacy’s space to planets that give us at least the modicum of a tactical advantage. Bimmiel, Ord Radama, Ziost, they all command grand banks of resources imperative to both Serenno’s survival and my fleet’s construction, but are all under control of the Empire. I need to help Serenno’s stance on their territory be  _ more clear _ ,” he looked to the other side of the room, down the line of empty bunks, to the far window, “only then will we be able to fight back. People rally around power, Commander, and a struggling world with a force projection rivaled by flocks of mynocks is not a symbol of power.” At this, Ahsoka nodded; this wasn’t a smart plan, but it was  _ a  _ plan. The only other seeds of galactic revolt she’d seen were riots against the Imperial occupiers on multiple worlds, which had no powerful backing and were quelled in days. This had potential, a potential that Ahsoka could agree with. They both wanted the Empire gone, and from what Ahsoka had come to understand about the Separatists’ people, seeing them be in power might not be as bad as she had been taught. 

“Ahsoka?” she heard a weak voice whisper out. Ahsoka looked over to see Barriss with a confused and scared expression on her face, not daring to move as she looked from her to Valakor to outside the door. 

“Ah, the mind-bender awakes. Quite a scare you gave me with your Force pulse out there, I was almost knocked out. Commendation for that, Lady Offee,” the Admiral stated, crossing his arms.

“It’s okay, Barriss, everything’s alright,” she attempted to soothe the small Mirialan, making eye contact with Valakor before walking over to her.

“Who’s that and where are most of our clothes?” she asked pointedly, pulling her white bunk cover higher on herself. Ahsoka stopped.  _ What. _ She looked down and… well, yeah that was a good question; her Togrutan wrap underwear was the only substantial stuff on and  _ damn  _ did she feel exposed now. 

“Before you ask, my first officer pulled six different weapons off of your person’s just on a visual scan, and I did  _ not  _ want to have to go through the trouble of going through everything on you. You’re as unarmed as I am,” he stated, just as calm as before. Ahsoka grimaced at that; not only did he have their only sources of decency, he also had her lightsabers, knife, and Rex’s blasters. How did she not notice as soon as she’d woken up was, like many things at the moment, beyond her.

“Admiral Valakor is giving us a way to stay alive, and to fight the Empire.”

“ _ Fight _ the Empire? Who’s crazy enough to try that?” Barriss commented, looking again to the droids behind the door. Valakor cleared his throat, and she quickly retreated to the back edges of her bunk.

“We have a chance now, which is something I’ve… not had in a while,” she said, mentally punching herself for pledging her unspoken acceptance of the Confederate’s plan. Barriss’ eyes narrowed at the Togrutan, and she let out a shaky sigh.

“If you think it’s a good idea, then…,” Barriss grabbed Ahsoka’s hand, “I trust you.” The taller woman smiled deeply, and wrapped her hand around the other’s. For a moment, the two had a silent conversation through their eye contact, like they had back when they had so little time to talk in wartime. The two of them had become masters of knowing what the other was thinking just by gauging emotions and facial expressions, even if Ahsoka’s sense had been marred after Barriss’ expelling action. 

“I will inform Captain Rex of this plan once he wakes up, and will return to you later, if that’s—”

“We have all the time in the universe, Commander. It will take time to get back to Serenno. Signal for one of my droids in the hall to bring you to my study when you all are ready,” he looked back to the window, “your things are over there, please do not attempt to escape.” With that, he spun on his heel and walked out of the door as a droid opened it, not looking back as Ahsoka stared at his withdrawing form. He had gestured to a box on the far side of the room, and Ahsoka could confirm visually that all their stuff, weapons included, was there. She turned back to Barriss, whose scared expression had returned to her face.

Even with all of what she had done in the past, it became clear to Ahsoka that what Barriss was portraying to her now was for real; Barriss was frightened and hurt. From the unstoppable padawan she’d looked up to on Geonosis, she saw a frail, malnourished woman who was in an unknown place with only disgrace and expectations placed on her shoulders. This realisation stopped Ahsoka’s mind for a moment, and she unwittingly did her next action; she hugged Barriss. It wasn’t a little friendly thing like when the two had departed each other’s company after missions, this had passion,  _ emotion _ , behind it. Barriss reciprocated without hesitation, and for a minute the two simply sat, one over the other, in a tight embrace; the pair held each other with an overzealous need, as if their opposite was going to disappear; to both of them, that was exactly what they feared. For the first time since Barriss had made her heated confession in front of the Chancellor all those months ago, Ahsoka felt genuine care for the smaller woman. It was at this moment she made a choice: Ahsoka was going to accept Valakor’s plan not for his ideals, but so that she would be able to secure Barriss a future that didn’t need to have such a complicated mess of fighting and mental stress.

Yeah, that sounded nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now where the fuck am I gonna take this plot? I have no clue-- or, I do, but I don't at the same time.


	5. Alone in a Crowd

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the month hiatus, but this chapter is pretty big (compared to the last four), and the next one is already underway. I was up in Canada for a week, so I wasn't able to upload this, but here it is.

Ahsoka was the first to move—her face suddenly a slightly darker shade of orange—sitting up quickly and releasing the smaller woman from her arms. Barriss was still for a moment, eyes closed in thought, before joining her counterpart, shifting to the edge of the bunk so the two were next to each other.

“What happened to me,” the Mirialan breathily laughed, “what happened to the  _ galaxy _ ?” 

“War,” Ahsoka replied simply. It was true, she’d had time to think, she knew to the best of her abilities what drove Barriss back then. She was clouded by the war, wanting to get out of it, realising the side she’d been fighting for was… Ahsoka hated to say this, but, that the Jedi and the Republic were  _ wrong _ ; that they themselves were blind. And even if she had been torn that her dearest friend had betrayed her in the moment, Ahsoka found herself agreeing far more now that the Empire had risen. That was not to call the way Barriss went about her ideals  _ good _ , the repercussions of them had caused the Jedi Order to turn their backs on her, and had been at least part of the reason dissonance regarding the Jedi had spread across the Core.

“Are you sure working with a Separatist won’t just get us caught up in another one?” the celadon-coloured woman asked, regaining some of the composure Ahsoka remembered so fondly.

“I mean, if you don’t want—”

“I’m just asking, Ahsoka. Whatever…,” she relaxed again, playing with her fingers, “whatever you do, I’ll be there.”

“If you’re not comfortable doing this, please tell me,” Ahsoka asserted, sliding her hands around Barriss’. 

“Alright,” Barriss breathed, leaning back, “yeah. At least that’s settled, right?” 

“Right. So, what  _ happened  _ when the Seps arrived? That pulse, or whatever it was. You were doing something similar on Palanhi, too, I felt it,” Ahsoka pried, letting go of Barriss. She shrugged and sunk into the bunk, her shoulders drooping as her mood suddenly changed.

“I don’t know. I learned it in the Imperial prison on the fly, the few times I tried to stun the guards; reverse engineered my healing projections to fit my emotions. I guess I went a little overboard when memories of the war came flooding back.”

“I didn’t know  _ anyone  _ could do that.”

“Well, battle meditation exists, so I guess anything can exist.”

“True, true. If you’re able to keep practising it, please do, that could be extraordinarily useful later.”

Ahsoka stood, walking over to the box brimming high with their belongings, and pulled it back. Handing Barriss her clothes, which was all she had, Ahsoka redressed and carefully placed her supplies and weapons in her various pockets and satchels. A DC-17 Commando pistol found its way back into her holster over her left breast, several nutrient bars and a flask of a nameless alcohol went to a black pack on her right hip, among other less imperative things. Her Jedi-issue macrobinoculars she set around her neck, a crudely-fashioned necklace holding it in place as her last favourable memento of the Clone Wars. At the bottom of the box, after setting aside Rex’s stuff, she frowned, staring blankly at her chrome lightsabers. Barriss noticed his hesitation and perked up, raising her eyebrows at the usually prompt Togruta.

“Are  _ you _ okay?” Barriss questioned, Ahsoka snapping out of her thoughts with a quick smile. She set the two swords to the left and right of her belt buckle on the two handmade clips she’d sewn on, similar in fashion to how she remembered Asajj Ventress’ sabres the few times she didn’t… well, have them in hand trying to kill the then-padawan.

“Yeah, it’s just… is having lightsabers on us a good idea?” she gestured to her belt. “They’re just another public notice to everyone around us that we’re Jedi and… well, they’re a reminder of the past.” Barriss shrugged and stood up from the bed, her joints quietly cracking as she gingerly moves. 

“We’re on a Separatist ship surrounded by Battle Droids and they haven’t shot us yet. Just put them in a handbag or, uh, something.”

“A  _ handbag? _ Did you  _ see _ how I dressed when I was on shore leave?” For the first time in a while, both women laughed, and in the moment it didn’t seem like they were, indeed, on a Separatist ship surrounded by Battle Droids.

“Very true, I don’t think a handbag or purse would go with your… tube top and tights. But what do you mean ‘a reminder of the past’? Lightsabers are weapons, not holocrons..”

“Yeah, weapons exclusively used by force-wielders, and I’m sure as hell not a Jedi, and  _ definitely _ not a Sith.”

“Ahsoka,” she closed her eyes as if she was trying to remember something important, chest raising and lowering as she took in a deep breath, “your lightsabers are you. You built them by the will of the Force influenced by your aura, and practised the forms that most suited your blades. They are you, and if you aren’t a Jedi then they are not a Jedi’s weapons. They don’t make you a Sith, they make you  _ you. _ ”

“I guess, yeah,” Ahsoka examined her clipped sabres with a solemn smile, “thanks.”

 

\- - -

 

It took awhile for Rex to wake up, his scarred form heaving in a deep breath before his eyes finally opened, pupils scanning the unknown room with a soldier’s accuracy. Ahsoka walked over, pulling the box of Rex’s gear, and pressed a hand against his shoulder to calm him down.

“What’s the situation, Com- Ahsoka?” he asked, absently probing his torso with his index and middle fingers for any problems. Before Ahsoka could explain, however, he lurched from the bed and pushed past to shield her as one of the Battle Droids outside the door clanked past, paying no mind to the room as it made its rounds.

“There  _ is  _ a story behind this,” she said tentatively, pulling Rex back. He cocked an eyebrow at her before slowly turning his back to the door

“Am I going to like it?”

“Not one bit.” And then she explained Admiral Valakor’s grand plan. Rex’s look of disbelief would have been humorous to Ahsoka in any other situation, but at the point she could understand it considering what he’d just spent the last four years fighting against.

“Well, kriff, you were right. That’s a terrible story,” he said with a frown, quickly gearing himself up. Ahsoka shrugged and handed him his helmet, which he promptly put on and activated his HUD. “The Admiral’s a mad bastard to think that Separatist ships, even  _ new  _ Separatist ships, will make the Empire turn away. But, well, I can’t think of any other plan, so…”

“So?”

He gave a sigh before speaking.

“So we talk to Valakor. It’s not a good idea whatsoever, but it puts us out of the Imperial spotlight and gives us something to do that doesn’t put you two in immediate danger. Choice of employment is, to me, irrelevant when considering the common enemy we all share, even though I hold my own opinions. We don’t have to trust our commanding officer as long as they give us steady work and steady pay; we both worked for the Republic, after all. My brothers and I fought the Separatists because they violated the sovereignty of the Galactic Republic; that Republic is no more, and for the first time I… well then.”

“What is it?”

“I just realised, after deserting with Wolffe, breaking Offee out, making a deal with a Separatist smuggling boss, and reuniting with you, I’m not  _ bound _ by anything, Ahsoka. No Republic, no Chancellor, no bureaucracy, just the endless galaxy and infinite choices. As a clone, bred for war and nothing else, I have never been given this opportunity before. Now I just need to know if Valakor is worthwhile.” Then he loaded both his blasters and set them in his holsters. Helping Barriss up for the final time, the trio went to the door and opened it. Rex went out first, obviously still trying to protect them, with his hands hovering above his pistols as he observed the scene outside. Surrounding them on both sides of the hallway were two files of Battle Droids, with two making a patrol path next to them. On the opposite of their doorway, standing on the threshold of a closed maintenance room, was a Super Tactical Droid.

“Commander Ahsoka Tano, I am HC-2. Considering you have exited the ward with your full group, I assume you want to follow up with the Admiral?” the droid asked, stepping forward and blocking their means of escape with its broad shoulders. Ahsoka fought her instincts to Force-push every droid in her way, and resorted to a small nod. Taking this as confirmation, the droid gestured for them to come, turned, and began walking.

“Can you tell me more about this ship?” Barriss wondered, raising her voice over the droid’s walking. It was silent for a second, as if mulling over the possible reasons she could be asking this, and then replied.

“ _ Providence- _ class Carrier-Destroyer  _ Lucid Voice _ , warship of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. One thousand eighty-eight metres length, one-ninety-eight metres height, three-fourteen metre width. One hundred eighty weapon hardpoints. Six hundred crewmembers, plus one-point-five million deactivated Battle Droids.”

“Quite a ship,” Barriss commented. Ahsoka definitely agreed; no wonder they had had so much trouble when they had boarded ships, when you had several divisions worth of droids just waiting to be delivered. While part of her was wanting  to disagree, she couldn’t help but admire the continuing military might of the Separatists in light of the ever-imposing Empire. This ship, as she knew all too well, was the pride of whatever planetary fleet it commanded, and from the decorations she saw on his jacket, Valakor was not some small-time colonial-admiral-turned-Separatist, he was the real deal. 

“Flagship of the D’Astan Sector Fleet, Serenno Orbital Command,” the droid added as they rounded a corner, coming into a massive hallway along the edge of the ship Hexagonal windows lined the right side wall, the equidistant openings flooding in the glow of hyperspace to light up everything a whitish blue.

While walking, Ahsoka stared out at the flowing stripes of hyperspace, the sparks and clouds of the other dimension entrancing even though she had seen it almost every day while smuggling and evading Imperial spies. Even in the war, the hum of hyperspace had been her sleeping lullaby, and the reassurance that she wouldn’t be at harm. Looking down, Ahsoka frowned at her calloused, ashy hands. She’d had very little time or motivation to take care of herself after the Republic had collapsed; hospitals were riddled with scans, cameras, and people. Major cities she could buy supplies in were largely too dangerous for her to stay, or were under Imperial control. Space stations—faction-controlled and independent alike—were equipped with data scanners and facial recognition devices, and while the Outer Rim may have safe havens, wanted lists were still frequently posted. Togruta fugitives were rare, and Ahsoka knew she had a very distinctive face. She knew basic Jedi healing techniques, which had helped her the few times she had been tracked down, or when she had a deal fall apart and had to run, but that only went so far without further training. Obvious pains of stress had plagued her since she’d dropped her old employer, scared that they would try and find her, and while she put up the walls of the ‘tough Jedi warrior’, she knew it wouldn’t last forever. This plan from Admiral Valakor was a way to at least indirectly hit back at the people that scared her, and gave her a sense of purpose unlike the mindless courier and supply runs she’d been doing the last eight or so months. Hopefully, this was a good idea.

“He is awaiting your arrival,” the super tactical droid relayed in its droning voice, spinning around to stand next to an armoured door. As if on command, the metal barrier slid open to reveal a monotone gray office, with a desk in the centre and two shelves of war memorabilia on either side. The ground was a plain black rug of synthetic fabric, and a Separatist flag adorned the plain wall directly behind the plain table that caught the trio’s attention. On its front edge, sitting perched with a relaxed posture and a small smile, was Valakor.

“I see you all decided to come. Good.”

“Yes, we did,” Ahsoka said curtly, crossing her arms as Valakor came to stand again. The smirk she’d seen earlier returned, and he walked to one of the shelves rubbing his chin with his cybernetic hand. Still, his demeanour from the medical room was gone; he seemed relaxed, but also troubled. His aura in the Force was not content, like it had been, but complex and difficult. 

“Do you accept my plan?” he asked, pulling from the topmost platform a small plastoid model of a  _ Venator _ -class Star Destroyer before sitting down at his desk chair to examine it. Ahsoka looked sidelong to Rex and Barriss, raising an eyebrow as a final question of assurance. Rex curled his lip, but gave a short nod. Barriss stared searchingly into Ahsoka’s eyes before looking at the Admiral, gesturing for Ahsoka to speak.

“We—,” Ahsoka began, before stopping herself after thinking of something, “I would like to discuss this further  _ with  _ the presence of my friends.”

“Of course, of course, where are my manners?” The Admiral set down his model on the desk and reclined in his tall chair. “Please, sit. I am quite sure your companions have much to ask.”

“I’ve fought you before,” Rex almost immediately stated, a cold stare unbroken as he planted himself on a chair in front of the desk, “Battle of Rendili, I was on an out-of-armour duty rotation aboard  _ Resolute _ while General Skywalker commanded the starfighter assault.”

“Yes, I remember Rendili. My first loss of the war, long before I had this ship under my command. Why, do you wish a rematch in simulations?”

“I’ll pass, Admiral, I just wanted you to know that you’re not new to me,” Rex cleared his throat, “so why us? You brought Offee and I to Ahsoka, and saved all of us by bringing us aboard your ship. Why are we… why are  _ they  _ special to you?”

“Lady Tano, would you care to explain?” Ahsoka stared blankly at this.

“You never answered that question when  _ I _ asked it, so no, I wouldn’t.”

Valakor rubbed his temple and leaned against his arm, his attention quickly being drawn to anywhere except the trio as he pondered this.

“Well then, I guess I owe you two,” he looked between Ahsoka and Barriss, “an apology. I sought you out specifically because you left the Jedi Order. Ahsoka, you were manipulated by a corrupt bureaucracy and given blame before proven guilty; you rightfully did not return. Barriss, your strategies were extreme, but were based upon a sudden realisation of your central position in a collapsing nation with a collapsing system.”

“Are you— are you  _ justifying  _ my actions?” Barriss sputtered, her eyes filling with a troubled, confused anger as Ahsoka observed her.

“No, but the reasons behind the actions, yes. You both are Jedi, trained in the ways of the Force far beyond any normal galactic citizen. Throughout the Clone Wars you honed your abilities in stealth, infiltration, information and software couriering, negotiation, and self-preservation. These are all qualities I need for an informant. You two fit the bill.”

“We are no longer affiliated with the Order, yes, but why not look out for other escaped Jedi? Masters, maybe, instead of padawans,” Ahsoka suggested, already aware others had survived but not daring to approach them.

“Simple,” he smiled, “you two have a bond. I’ve pored over my intelligence web’s list of surviving Force-sensitives and have found none that are altogether competent, in-contact, and have a past friendship or apprenticeship with one another. Sure, I could afford to ship Master Rahm Kota all the way to Serenno, but he is alone, and it would take far more time than I can afford him to attain his trust and will to fight.”

“So we’re all that’s left?” Barriss asked, looking quite deflated.

“No, you’re the best choice. After the list of Force-sensitives comes the effective bounty hunters, then the ‘honourable’ mercenaries, and then the greedy politicians,” he listed, sarcastically adding, “my options are limited.”

“So what does your version of ‘informant’ entail, exactly?”

“To the T of its definition, Lady Offee. As I already told Commander Tano, I need data on Imperial fleet movements and intelligence on  _ their _ intelligence to buy myself time to rebuild the fleets,” Valakor relayed, sparing a glance at the  _ Venator  _ model. Barriss’ face scrunched up in thought before asking her next questions.

“No assassinations?”

“No.”

“No direct combat?”

“Not unless you utterly fail, no. I need to stay ‘under the radar’, so to speak.”

“Then I,” Barriss looked to Ahsoka, “see no immediate problem in this.”

Ahsoka, on the other hand, was still not completely sold. She could tell Rex wasn’t either, by his posture and stern facial expression.

“And if we refuse?” Rex piped in.

“Then I hope plastoid armour has been improved since Geonosis.” Rex gave the Admiral a disdainful glare at this and sat back, crossing his plated arms.

Surrounded on every side by over a million-and-a-half battle droids in the middle of a hyperspace jump to the Separatist throneworld, given a plan that was lackluster but doable, with a raise in credits enough to support three people and then some, Ahsoka found no reason to refuse the offer. Raising a cautionary hand to Rex, she leaned forward.

“We accept.”

Valakor’s smirk turned into a smile, and then a grin. 

“Grand. We will be arriving at Serenno within the hour, and I’m sure Countess Shala will be just  _ delighted  _ to meet you.”

 

\- - -

 

After being led to the aft of the ship and brought up a massive elevator, Ahsoka found herself in a very out-of-place enclosure. Unlike the plain, cold corridors of the  _ Lucid Voice _ , or the minimalist interior of Valakor’s study, the carrier-destroyer’s observation room on its spire was decorated as if it were a cruiseliner promenade deck. While Admiral Valakor had gone to the command bridge to oversee the final arrival to Serenno, he had had them transferred to the observation deck as ‘a show of his accomodation’. Compared to how she usually lived, Ahsoka found this posh interior uncomfortable, to say the least.

“ _ Disengaging hyperdrive in thirty seconds _ ,” one of the pilot droids from the bridge relayed over the intercom. Ahsoka was leaned against the rail along the curved, teardrop-shaped window overlooking the length of the warship, her hands awkwardly hanging over the bar as she tried to look natural in the room. Barriss was sitting at a chair in the centre, near Ahsoka, asleep once more, and Rex was field-stripping his pistols for the upteenth time. 

Now that she’d truly committed to Valakor’s plan, she had to think over the logistics of upholding his missions. As she had already gathered from reading the after-action reports of ARF Trooper fireteams when she was bored during the war, cloaking devices and stealth drives were essential for getting to targets; these were extraordinarily expensive, and Ahsoka had none. Her ship could switch to silent running, and if need be she could power down all systems and let inertia bring her forward, but for a duty-built stealth ship she had nothing to show. Sure, they themselves may fit Valakor’s checklist for the ideal agents, but Ahsoka needed to get the trio to the target first. She noted this in her head, and made it a point to talk to the Admiral about this later, if she got the chance. 

“ _ Three, two, one _ ,” the countdown was completed. From the streaks of blue, the ship lurched to black. The stars returned to shining dots, and acted as a speckled backdrop to the planet in front of the ship. Ahsoka let out a breath she didn’t even know she was holding, her focus flicking around the scene in front of her as she took in every detail. Serenno was beautiful, sure, but that most definitely was not what caught her eye.

“Rex,” Ahsoka called back to the clone, “look.” 

The stars were not the only dots in the night. A few hundred kilometres ahead, silhouetted by the sunbathed daylight of the planet below, was the remainder of the Separatist fleet. ‘A few hundred’ was an understatement; over a thousand warships stood before them, of every class the CIS had used through the war.  _ Munificent _ s,  _ Recusant _ s, and Umbaran Support Ships lined the ranks of the massive blockade, dispersed by the dozens around the enormous shapes of the revered Separatist battleships and dreadnoughts previously used to spread fear along the Outer Rim. Had she been fighting them, she would have been scared out of her wits, but now she simply felt uneasy that this was too big of a target for the Empire while they were just sitting here bunched up. So many ships,  _ outdated  _ ships, just waiting in orbit.

“That’s a lot of Seppies,” Rex enunciated, coming up next to her with a troubled frown. Of course, Ahsoka pondered, he would be troubled. Even if it was a new era and old enemies are now necessary to stay afloat, he’d been created explicitly to fight and destroy the ships and crews that stood before him. 

“Indeed,” Ahsoka absently replied, still in her thoughts. 

“Should I wake up Offee?” he asked, glancing back at Barriss’ small form perched in the large chair. Ahsoka nodded and turned away from the window, striding over to the chair and pushing Barriss’s shoulder. Instantly awakening from an apparently light slumber, she rose and looked out at the new form of light, eyes widening at the massive armada.

“Is that…?”

“Serenno,” Rex finished, sliding the last pieces of his blaster pistols back into place.

“ _ One-Oh-Ninth Artillery Group and all shipboard passengers, make your way to the starboard hangar door.  _ Star of Vane  _ is docking in five minutes to transfer you planetside, _ ” came the voice of the HC-2 over the comm. The route to the hangar was self-explanatory, with three main hallways running the length of the ship, and the spire shaft opening directly into one. Looking at each other, the trio walked to the far side of the room, got into the elevator, and went down. When the doors slid open, they were met with a cascade of sound as an entire droid battalion divided into two files were going in a fast jog down the hall. Every other droid was holding either a mortar piece or a folded double barrel repeating blaster, slung over their backs and secured tightly. Following the artillery group, a hovering droid carrier floated through, holding a squad of deactivated Super Battle Droids with arm cannons. As it paused to turn, Ahsoka jumped on the back, helping Barriss and Rex before climbing to the front. The blue-marked pilot droid looked at her, but paid no mind as it continued to direct the bulky vehicle through the just large enough hallway.

Soon enough, they entered the massive central hangar of the ship, a design Ahsoka had seen a few times before when she had been deployed on infiltration missions. Above them, mounted in their deactivated, folded forms, were close to two hundred Vulture Droids, spaced out in such a manner that they looked like they were the ceiling itself. As the droid transport lumbered along the flight deck, a Hyena bomber walked past, gimballed head swivelling to observe the odd passengers. 

“I wonder if the Admiral programmed it so that we’re not seen as hostile?” Barriss wondered aloud. This question was answered as an AAT hovered by the droid carrier, the driver not stopping as Barriss stared it down. Rex, with his helmet on, kept his head down and was quietly grumbling at the countless Battle Droids they passed. At the other end of the hangar bay, the docking arm of a  _ Recusant _ -class Light Destroyer extended through the shield, moving ever so slightly as the warship opposite them manoeuvred to the same approach vector as the  _ Lucid Voice _ . As the transport slowed to a stop, the three hopped off it, walking slowly to the docking tube as its doors opened. Standing next to it holding a datapad was Valakor, talking to his super tactical droid. He perked up as they approached, turning away from the droid to address them. Even with all of the discussion they’d had already, even with Ahsoka  _ agreeing to his plan _ , she still felt apprehensive as he approached, and she likewise felt this from Barriss’s aura. 

“HC-2 here will escort you to the surface, he will ensure your safety,” he handed the datapad to Ahsoka, “I trust you will keep in contact. Likewise, directions to the palace of House Shala are programmed into this pad, though when you land I do think it will be obvious. I will transmit my first mission to your ship, which will be stored aboard the  _ Star of Vane _ until you depart.”

Suddenly, Ahsoka realised her apprehension, surprised that she hadn’t picked up on it the  _ first  _ time he’d mentioned upgrading her ship.

“I’m  _ not  _ leaving my ship behind, Admiral,” she asserted, looking over at the locked-down freighter in the opposite corner. 

“Your ship is undergoing refit and repair, Commander, it will be fine aboard the  _ Vane _ .”

“‘Refit’?”

“It is not unknown to me that your ship is  _ quite  _ under-equipped against pursuer craft smaller than a blockade runner, so I’ve ordered a few… modifications.”

“Those being? We both know I don’t like people touching my ship,” she continued, thinking back to her contract with her then-unknown employer. Since Order 66, she’d grown increasingly aware of the dangers posed by having unknown modifications put on her ship by unknown people with, though she knew his overall plan, unknown intentions.

“A refractive stealth drive, replacing your hyperdrive with a class zero-point-five, adding two more subspace thrusters, embedding  _ several  _ concealable hardpoints, enhancements to your hypermatter core and power distributor, and connecting in your storage room a droid charging station, among other more subtle performance additions. I know your style, Commander, none of your belongings are being tampered with, and my modifications will be completely inconspicuous if you fly into Imperial-controlled airspace.”

Ahsoka didn’t know how to respond to this. At one end, she was deeply disturbed that a stranger was replacing core systems of the ship she had personally repaired and gotten to know, but at the other she was unendingly grateful for these extraordinarily expensive but effective add-ons to her ship. Rex was no stranger to the customisation of starships, however, and decided to voice Ahsoka’s silent inhibitions.

“These are not at all  _ cheap  _ modifications. Why not use these to outfit your starfighters, or conserve resources for your war effort? We’re barely your allies, and nowhere close to friends,” he asked plainly while staring at the freighter.

“Because, Captain, in these trying times I need my web of information to stay whole, and I need my information prompt. In other words, you all need to be alive; that can only be achieved with the best hardware possible,” he made eye contact with Ahsoka again, “luckily, the  _ Questor _ -class is a good baseline to start off with, so I don’t have to buy and outfit a new ship. If you had brought me, say, a YT-class, I would have laughed. This expense is nothing compared to the information I will receive _. _ ”

“You mentioned a droid charging station? I don’t have any plans on getting an R2 unit,” Ahsoka queried, genuinely confused.

“Not an astromech port, no, it’s a  _ Battle Droid  _ port. I never intended for you to actually drop off the supplies in your ship anywhere, those are yours; the rations will last you for several missions, the bacta is useful for yourselves and just in case you need to help someone, and the droid… specially modified just for you.”

“I… I can’t accept,” she said slowly, “I appreciate all of this, truly, but as Rex said, these supplies are better off used by the people of Serenno.”

“Tano, I’ve been waiting for the perfect moment to do this since you first contacted me last year, so please, embrace my… charity.”

“Admiral, I know how much Commando Droids cost.”

“And how  _ effective  _ they are,” Rex jutted in. Valakor glared at the clone before continuing.

“Once again, price is irrelevant. This one has a clearer vocabulator, has been programmed for advanced tactics, and unlike a majority of the CIS’s droids has not been mind-wiped since its creation, so it has personality. It’s read up on all your files, Commander, and has freely chosen to be assigned to you.”

“We don’t need a  _ droid _ ,” Rex continued, attracting the attention of several droids in the artillery file a few metres away. Valakor raised his hand for him to stop.

“Take care what you say. I could, as a Separatist, say the same thing about  _ you. _ I don’t wipe my droids, Captain, they will remember that.” At this, Rex’s shoulders sagged and he looked around awkwardly, albeit with a helmet covering his face.

“So, the droid,” Ahsoka said, not completely sold.

“Will be under your care, but quite efficiently takes care of itself. It can apply its own maintenance, and only requires that you keep the charging station powered whenever possible. It has been programmed to never attack  _ you _ , Commander. My protection extends to personal security, and while I do not withhold my reservations on the quality of Clone Troopers, both of them combined will make a formidable power in the case of conflict.”

Rex growled at being objectified, but stayed back as Ahsoka went on.

“Thank you, Admiral,” Ahsoka said, extending a hand out to him. He took it and shook, wordlessly cementing their deal and mutual respect.

“My operatives are to be held in the highest esteem, Commander. Now, you had better get a move on, the Countess is not friendly to those who are late.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now to meet Countess Shala. Fun.


	6. The Countess and Her Pawns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the almost two month hiatus, but a lot happened and I've been more stressed and deprived than any other time in my life. So, thanks for understanding. This one isn't exactly special and is MASSIVELY dialogue-heavy, but I promise the next chapter might be a little better.

As much as she had seen of the Republic staging areas on Coruscant, which spanned a good portion of the area near the Jedi Temple, the Confederate shipyards were still impressive, although still intimidating. Long had Ahsoka become aware of the rough droning of Separatist capital ships as they bore down on whatever ship she was commanding. Long had she become accustomed to watching them fall to flame and echoes, not waiting anxiously in the hangar bay of one thinking about a soon-to-be meeting with a prominent Separatist. The shipyards outside of the hangar shield extended for several kilometres, sparsely populated by a collection of  _ Munificent _ s and  _ Recusant _ s in varying stages of repair, showing quite apparently the enduring toll the CIS still faced after the war ‘ended’. While considering her stance on openly fighting the Empire, noting her Jedi past, Ahsoka also knew that she was aiding in one of the last forms of resistance left in the galaxy. Even though only about a year before she had been actively fighting them and strongly disbelieving that they could even hold a modicum of respect, with her abrupt introduction to Valakor and the post-war CIS, she saw why they may truly have been right. She understood that the Separatists had been twisted by the Sith—Count Dooku was truly evil—but she felt that dark force over the Empire where it had diminished with the CIS over the months. While she still found herself scared and intimidated personally, it could not be hidden that the shadow of the Sith was no longer overwhelming on Serenno as she had expected. 

“Commander Ahsoka Tano, may I speak with you?” HC-2 asked, walking over to her his hands folded behind him. Glancing over at Barriss and Rex sitting a few metres away trying to stay as hidden as possible, she nodded. 

“Yes, of course.”

“While Lady Barriss Offee and yourself are easily disguised from identification, your Clone and his… armour is not so. Due to the hostility of the Serennian people, as well as the distaste for them held by Countess Shala, I would not recommend bringing it with you.”

Ahsoka decided to play along, just to get a feel for what a droid thought of Rex.

“And what  _ would  _ you recommend, then?”

“Termination is most preferable, considering the circumstances regarding Republic Executive Order Number 66 and yourself.”

“I’m not  _ killing  _ Rex,” she exclaimed, holding her hands in front of her chest, “nor am I leaving him behind!”

“As you wish, Commander,” the droid paused, “the Clone may still pose a risk once we land. I’m posting a droid escort on you for the duration of your stay.”

_ Oh, he’s going to  _ love  _ this. _

“Whatever works, as long as this goes over well.”

“As long as Admiral Valakor holds you under the protection of the Separatist Alliance, everything will be satisfactory.” With this, HC-2 stalked away to one of the droid commanders with the artillery group. Ahsoka took this as her leave, as well, and quickly went to talk with her two counterparts.

“Rex,” Ahsoka called. Rex looked up, a questioning brow raised.

“What’d the droid say?”

“Well…,” Ahsoka glanced back at the Battle Droids, “let’s just hope you learn to  _ like  _ droids.”

 

\- - -

 

He didn’t. And while Ahsoka was, as well, quite uneasy about her escort, the methodical whirring of their servo-motors did give a distraction from what was coming up next. The walk from the drydock  _ Star of Vain  _ landed at was a fair ways away from the entrance to the city, delivering to Ahsoka and inside perspective on what she’d spent so long trying to eradicate. She’d thought about this before, back in Valakor’s observation deck, but having the opportunity to walk past the massive Separatist ships and examine them gave food for thought on just how important Serenno’s protection had to be to fend off the Empire. At least in one sense, Valakor was completely right; the remaining Separatists simply could not win unless they rebuilt their fleets. These were the same ships she’d fought before, with the same weapons, the same shields, and the same crews. Through the smuggling networks, she’d heard that the Empire, on the other hand, had begun focusing their naval power on improving the late-Clone Wars  _ Imperator _ -class Star Destroyer, and there were rumours of multiple dreadnought projects in the works at Fondor, Kuat, and Rothana. The ships lining for kilometres around Ahsoka were all of medium size, the largest docked being the  _ Star of Vain _ . Sure, in orbit she had spotted the massive droid battleships and dreadnoughts, but in comparison to the self-proclaimed war machine of the Empire, that was ever-growing and ever-evolving, she didn’t know how long they would last.

She really had to stop thinking about this, Ahsoka decided, as doubting the cause she was now working for was not the solution to the problem.

“Two ground transports will be waiting at the gate. The artillery group will take the droid carrier, you will go to the personnel shuttle. Countess Shala will be on the landing pad, more than likely reading, so please be quiet as you exit,” HC-2 explained as they neared the city.

“Got it,” Ahsoka replied, squinting to see the two parked vehicles just behind the ray shielding.

As she had on the way to talking to Valakor, Ahsoka stared down at her hands, it becoming a new involuntary pastime as she disappeared into her thoughts. Her ship was being upgraded with unknown tech, and while she was sure Valakor was at least somewhat truthful in his descriptions of what he was putting on, she still wasn’t sure if he would be able to keep their identities secret. Of course, the Separatists opposed the Empire, but the possibility of their location being leaked due to the Empire winning the technology race after the Republic’s collapse, she didn’t know if even their covert informant position would be quiet enough to keep them out of their eye. She felt… uneasy, to say the least, bringing Rex and Barriss with her. Sure, she could use their help, they needed a place to stay, and she wasn’t about to let them go, but bringing them into hazardous situations which could jeopardise their security was not what the ideal situation. The line between staying hidden and being on the run was a thin one, and she didn’t know which side this would bring her to.

 

\- - -

 

Finally, the group reached the bordering edge of the shipyard, and the trio stared up at a massive wall that stood at least twenty metres. From where they had been, it had looked sizable, but from their current position it looked like you could fit an AT-AT just inside of the ray-shielded door. As HC-2 had said, an executive shuttle sat parked on the other side, landed next to a dark tan droid carrier. Ahsoka unintentionally tensed at the sight; even though she’d been on Valakor’s ship without a problem and had seen countless Battle Droids in the last rotation, she’d seen too many of those carriers and knew the dread that filled herself and her men. As HC-2 stalked over to the edge of the door, waved off the two Commando Droids, and opened the shield, Ahsoka observed and understood Rex’s hesitation as he made his first step into the Separatist capital. 

And that’s where the trouble began.

“Is that a—”

“A  _ clone _ .”

“What is it doing here?”

“Are we surrendering?”

Voices surrounded the trio as they made their way under cover of the droid escort to the shuttle, but as they reached the landing pad, the voices pushed back. As the commotion had grew, so had the crowd, and they found themselves utterly surrounded with only a barrier of metal and programming between them and an angry group of Separatist citizens. Rex was probably glad he had his helmet on. The shuttle was only four or so metres away, so close yet so far, and Ahsoka could only hope the droids she’d studied how to dismantle would be enough to withstand an enraged populace.

“Citizens, return to your homes, the transfer of Confederate cannon and men is a secure operation that cannot be jeopardised by you. A general order will be issued to your personal computers once we are through.”

“Rex, go faster,” Ahsoka whisper-yelled, “Rex? Did you hear me—” 

“Get the clone!” someone yelled in the background, the fuse reaching its end as the crowd exploded forth. 

“Hell, we need to get out of here,” Rex exclaimed, stepping back as the droid escort was quickly being pressed back.

Attempting to hold their thin line, the droids in front that had been flanking HC-2 were engulfed in limbs as dozens of people trampled them, breaking the perfect formation the escort had been holding. As the runners scrambled through, Rex dodged them as they each attempted to throw a punch, the clone being well-trained in the martial arts. Rex rolled under a person as they tried to jump at him, instead plummeting into the droid behind the clone. The droid, prompted by its fight or flight programming, fired a stun shot at the person. HC-2 grabbed Ahsoka and Barriss forcefully and heaved them up over the crowd, setting them down at the edge of the pileup and wordlessly telling them to go. Turning his head back in, the Super Tactical Droid forced back the mob with his massive forearms.

“Go, Captain,” HC-2 ordered. Rex took a moment to make what could be called eye contact with the droid before nodding and going forth. Running under his arm, Rex slid next to Ahsoka, who was debating on using the Force to get HC-2 out. Noticing her hesitation, Rex tapped her shoulder and shook his head, jogging onto the shuttle while simultaneously taking out one of his pistols. Setting it to stun, he stood at the ready as his friends scrambled on. Followed closely by HC-2 and two of the droids, the droid leader called for the pilot to take off. The small crowd’s roar was drowned out as the engines thundered to life, rising above their heads and soon above the rooftops of the city’s outskirts. Hands clasped to the side rail as she looked down, Ahsoka caught her breath as she saw the artillerymen leveling their rifles before the shuttle turned that out of her view. Next to her, she felt Rex staring as well. 

“HC-2, what’s going on down there?”

“The One-Oh-Ninth is taking care of unlawful citizens.”

“‘Taking care of’? How?”

“Imprisonment or death. They struck at a military target unprovoked and did not heed my warning. Therefore, per Article Six, Subheading Nine, Paragraph Two of the Bylaws of Independent Systems, this punishment is necessary.” Ahsoka opened her mouth to reply, but closed it as she disappeared in thought. She had to accept that the Separatist Alliance was not what the Republic was, with promised rights for all its citizens. At this point, she had to question why she was even surprised; she’d dealt with the Zygerrian Empire, she’d brokered deals with the Hutts, how were the Separatists different? In a sickening wave of abstraction, she understood the harshness of them, it was…  _ necessary _ when so much rode on so little. What separated them from the others that held the same doctrine?

_ She knew some. They were like her. _

Lux and Mina Bonteri came to mind, and a cold shiver ran up her spine; Mina had been killed by Dooku, but because of her she knew the Separatists were, at their upper layers, honourable. Both sides of the war were plagued by darkness.

“Hey, look,” Rex said, pointing out the window Ahsoka was absently staring from. Ahead of the fast-moving shuttle was a massive castle, shrouded in shadow by two  _ Providence _ dreadnoughts hovering close-by. Again forcing her ceaseless notions on the virtues and drawbacks of her employer to the back of her mind, shaking the out-of-character conclusions from her mind, she turned to the interior of the shuttle and gazed at Barriss; she could observe ships of war plenty in the coming days, it was protecting those she now had under her care that was her main concern.

“If Valakor gave us his plan, why do we need to talk to… uh,” Barriss trailed off.

“Countess Shala,” HC-2 finished, sitting perfectly still behind the pilot.

“Well, I assume she has more details than Valakor was willing to give, and can probably shed more light on our situation.”

“Speaking of,” Rex leaned between the two women, “there she is.” Indeed, standing on the castle landing pad in a flowing black dress with her hands clasped in front of her was, quite obviously, the Countess. Two Commando Droids stood at her either side clutching Neimoidian long rifles, polished heads pointed forwards as the shuttle touched down. The ship’s doors folded out and up, flooding the cabin with cool, alpine air. A hundred metres above the next highest skyscraper in the city, the landing pad was perched discreetly at the tip of the enormous building, which itself sat on a spire-like fold mountain. Ahsoka walked down the ramp followed by Barriss, Rex, and HC-2, avoiding Shala’s intent gaze as the Super Tactical Droid overtook the Togruta to address his leader.

“Countess, by order of Admiral Valakor, I bring before you Com—”

“Archamae has made it emphatically clear who he was involving in his grand plan, General,” the tall woman spoke sharply, “please, leave us. Recharge in my office, I will speak to you later.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the droid replied, passing her and entering the castle without a further word.

“You three, follow me. The Admiral may be elated to have won your trust, but I need to know you’re trustworthy before I can employ you to such a… sensitive position.”

“Likewise, Countess,” Ahsoka said calmly, putting to use her diplomatic air Senator Amidala had helped her develop. At this, Shala’s lip quirked up at the edges as she turned to lead them, and the tense situation deflated somewhat. In silence, the woman led the three deep into the building, the clicking of the Commando Droids’ sling mounts being the only distraction as they walked along the carpeted halls. The black walls and green accent lighting kept Ahsoka on edge, however, as every corner and crevice was veiled in shadow; her over-thinking mind told her something was lurking there. After what seemed like an eternity of turning corridors and going down stairs, they entered a large hall with a long table in the centre. At the far end was a window that stood at least a dozen metres high, tinted green with an unobstructed view of the two defending starships and the city below. Shala walked to this, putting one hand on her hip and giving a small huff. Turning to the others, she waved off the droid guards and began to speak.

“I suppose we should get names over with, as I am sure Valakor overlooked the preferred title of the clone, here,” she started as the trio got situated. Rex grumbled and leaned against the table with his arms crossed as Ahsoka and Barriss each took a seat at the end closest to the window. “After the unfortunate death of Count Dooku, it was up to the other families to produce a new ruler. The others were cowards, so naturally I was all that was left to keep order in a galaxy of disorder. Even with that, I do quite hate the title, so with that in mind, please call me Rylenne.” Looking between each other, they gave their short replies.

“I’m Ahsoka.”

“Barriss.”

“It’s  _ Rex _ , ma’am.”

“Oh, dispense with the pleasantries. Valakor and most of the Serennian population may have their own dispositions against Clone Troopers, but I respect your existence and  _ names _ , Rex,” she dismissed, “unless you would prefer I call you ‘Captain’ the whole time.”

“I wouldn’t.”

“Good, then,” the Countess—Rylenne—pulled a chair to the front and placed herself upon it lightly, “shall we begin?”

“Yes, please,” Ahsoka stated, leaning forward in her chair. Rylenne looked at her with a spark in her eye, that smile returning again.

“Ignoring what Valakor has droned to me about, tell me about yourselves.”

“The two of us,” Ahsoka turned to Barriss, “are former Jedi, commanders during the war. Personally, I fought from—”

“ _ Yourselves _ , Ahsoka. I need to know your characters,” Rylenne jutted in, figuratively brushing away Ahsoka’s exposition on the Clone Wars, “you three were definitely quite… riveting, back when I still paid mind to the HoloNet. Ahsoka, lethal apprentice to the great General Skywalker, Captain Rex, master tactician of the Five-Oh-First, and Barriss Offee, fallen Jedi and seed of rebellion. Those are the images made of you, am I wrong?”

“Unfortunately,” Barriss muttered, putting a finger to her temple.

“I agree. How awful to see you, for example, beaten down as the greatest betrayal in Republic history while the Republic itself betrayed its own values, and the Jedi, as you so famously put to words, ‘were an army fighting for the dark side’. A small bit dramatic, but with the media making it even more so your assumed character was then painted as a villain.”

“I murdered innocent people, Countess, I will never let myself forget,” Barriss corrected, eyes narrowing.

“Compared to the actions taken by both sides in the name of collateral damage, I believe your attack can be overlooked as a statement. It did turn heads, did it not?”

“Not in the way I had… not how I wanted.”

“How they did is irrelevant, your point was still televised in over a thousand languages to hundreds of planets live.” Barriss’s eyebrows raised at this, and a look of worry came over her face.

“I-it was?”

“I must say that Palpatine’s rebuttal after your exit was rather weak,” she went on, “but what did you  _ actually  _ want to happen?”

“What?”

“You say it didn’t garner the attention you wanted, how so?”

“Nothing changed in the Republic’s policies, the Jedi  _ intensified  _ their involvement in the war, and they died by their own men while being represented as enemies of the Republic. If anything, my… I made it all worse.”

“That is one way of thinking about it.”

“It’s the  _ only  _ way to think about it. I didn’t get anything done.”

“Far from the truth,” Rylenne hummed in thought for a second, “consider how many people on both spoke up about the war before you? Mina Bonteri and the Delegation of Two Thousand. One was killed by the Republic, the others spoke too late and with too little power. In the eyes of many Confederates somewhat sympathetic to the pre-war Jedi, your strike was exactly what was necessary to get the public aware of the internal problems they had been blinded to. It may not have given much motivation to the Republic, but the Separatists saw it all with another perspective.”

“I…,” Barriss slumped in her seat and looked to Ahsoka, an obvious sheen covering her normally attentive eyes, but the Togruta understood; her question aboard the  _ Lucid Voice  _ had been inadvertently answered, they were indeed justifying her actions. A pulse of dejection washed over her connection to the Force, and Ahsoka actively recoiled. This was unlike the wave of grief on Palanhi, and it didn’t render her unconscious. No, this felt more controlled, as if Barriss was focusing it on Ahsoka as a means of communication. Rex seemed unaffected unlike before, and Rylenne had raised a questioning brow at the interaction, so ignoring this in the moment Ahsoka composed herself. They definitely had a lot to talk about once they had the time.

“Ignoring assumptions on the Jedi Temple bombing, there is very little we can just  _ tell  _ you about us. We’re still trying to figure ourselves out as it is,” Ahsoka tried to move on, folding her hands in her lap. Even with the look in her eye still remaining, the Countess continued.

“Of course, I am quite sorry. This may be too much, even considering the circumstances. Then shall we focus more on the… hm, good aspects of you two?” Rylenne tried, apologetically glancing at Rex, who shrugged in reply.

“‘Good’?” Ahsoka queried.

“As I understand by a dossier Archamae gave me last week after Rex first contacted him, he admires and claims to need the bond you and Barriss hold, or at least held. Of course, he forced you all together three days ago, and you’ve survived, but I want to know about your experiences together.”

“Platonically?”

“Are you saying there’s a rom—”

“I meant do you want details from battle,” Ahsoka quickly cut the woman off, purposely ignoring Barriss turning away next to her.

“Only those that would strengthen your explanation, I don’t need to know how many of my droids you dismantled,” Rylenne clarified, looking between the two former Jedi. Ahsoka once again looked over to the Mirialan, boring deep into her gaze.

“I suppose,” Ahsoka began, still staring, “you could have called us friends. As early padawans we would be obligated to send letters and stay in touch, but she was much better at everything than I was. I stayed with my clique and she… she stayed by herself. By the time of the war we had forgotten all but each other’s names. Geonosis was when we reacquainted.”

“You fought together often?”

“Only when it was important to the mission. Our masters had their own plans, and we of course followed.” Barriss leaned into the conversation at this to speak.

“Master Luminara was a tactician, Master Skywalker was a brash warrior. They complimented each other in a way, though not as much as Skywalker did to Master Kenobi. Ahsoka and I were apart, usually, running after them and covering their backs.”

“Their servants.”

“Their  _ learners _ ,” Barriss corrected, “I may not have agreed with the Jedi as a whole, but Master Unduli… I would have laid my life down for her.”

“An we almost did,  _ twice _ ,” Ahsoka added, Barriss nodding along with it. Both women remembered all too well the trapping, thick air of the tank they had been buried in, with barely enough space for them to move about and no prospect of survival. Barriss went quiet, however, as one thing led to another and the two were thinking of the brain worms again. They’d agreed to put that behind them, and now Ahsoka felt guilty for bringing it up so soon. Rylenne seemed to notice this and quickly moved on.

“How do you two work together?” she asked. Barriss lifted her head up and sighed in thought.

“For the most part, we didn’t. There was Geonosis, the ride home, Umbara, and the downtime between those. We talked by holo sometimes, but after that there was…,” the Mirialan looked over at Ahsoka, “there was only pain until Rex got me out.” At this, the Countess frowned, not a harsh one, but an understanding one. Ahsoka shifted in her seat, fiddling with her skirt, quite aware the conversation was only going downhill considering the pair’s past.

“So, Captain, I assume you’re a part of Valakor’s plan?”

“He contacted me anonymously saying he could be a resource. When Wolffe and I broke her out, I asked for that resource. Nothing more, nothing less. If you’re asking whether I’ll walk, that’s out of the question. If there’s something you’re telling them, I’m hearing it too.”

“Agreed,” Rylenne crossed her arms and squared her shoulders, “well, then we’d better get on with this. I can tell you three will need to talk things out, that much is sure, but business is business.”

“So what’s our assignment?”

“Oh, Archamae will inform you of that in due time. I need to discuss what he is unable to— _ money. _ ”

“I mean, I—”

“As he probably told you, our agents are held on the highest regard. You perform our dirty work, you at least deserve a high stipend. Say, five million unmarked credits annually.”

“ _Five_ _million_?”

“Three people, all wanted by the Empire, needing fuel, repairs, food, clothing, and weapons? Yes.” Ahsoka, once again, did not know what to say. At one side, she was extraordinarily grateful that she was being offered more credits than she could have possibly made before, but at the other, she didn’t want to take away from an already underfunded cause. Rylenne seemed to sense this hesitation, and continued. “Money has not and never will be a problem, Ahsoka. The thing that holds our military back is staffing, speed of construction, and movement of soldiers, not money. From the Clone Wars, business transactions, prior planetary funds, and the Serennian elite families, we’ve more than enough to pay you for your work.” Ahsoka certainly understood, both sides had attempted to simultaneously profit from the war. 

“Well,” Ahsoka took a breath, “we graciously accept.”

“So you do,” she mused, “did he tell you, at least, what you’re doing?”

“He needed an informant, and that we would be away from the Empire’s eye.” At this, Rylenne laughed, but quickly got serious again as she folded her hands.

“That’s the optimistic way of thinking about things, trust me.  ‘Informant’ is just the nice way of saying ‘hitman’ and ‘spy’, and as you already know from when we initially picked you up, the Empire’s eye is  _ everywhere _ .” Barriss held a breath, and Ahsoka frowned.

“The latter is obvious, of course, but the former is  _ not _ what he said. He claimed we wouldn't be fighting unless everything went wrong.”

“Archamae’s wishful thinking, I’m afraid. With how riddled with holes the galaxy is right now, no operation goes right these days. While I am taking a liking to you, I was quite worried when he first brought you two up, as you aren’t exactly…”

“We’re very unique,” Ahsoka agreed, gesturing at her montrals. Barriss quietly nodded and tugged at her headscarf, absently trying to hide her facial tattoos. Rex huffed and took off his helmet, revealing his identical yet stand-outish face.

“Yes,” the Countess’s face softened, “and while I don’t want to see you three hurt, we both know the Confederacy is hard-pressed to keep that promise if your whereabouts are revealed to the Empire. So, while there is still time and secrecy, I want you to think on this. I applaud your eagerness, and we… well, we definitely need your help, but take a few days. A large suite has been prepped on the floor below this, please take it, your ship won’t be ready for a little while.”

“Thank you, Rylenne.”

“No, thank you for agreeing to hear us out.”

“Well, Admiral Valakor did threaten to…,” Barriss trailed off as the Countess put two fingers to the bridge of her nose.

“Of course he did. Anyways, I’ve summoned a guard to escort you. Call a concierge bot if you need anything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now they get to wait in a luxury suite... by themselves. There's a lot to talk about.


	7. Heartbeat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise for my absence, things've been weird. Writers block hit like a truck and I've felt extremely unmotivated. That said, I did manage to get a chapter out, however late.

Ahsoka sat splayed upon a couch, eyes closed in concentration as the world seemed to disappear around her. The common room of the suite was utterly, blissfully silent, and for the first time since she had landed on Palanhi she felt rooted to the ground. It was almost four days since she’d picked up Barriss and Rex, and somehow she had found at least a tentative peace with the former padawan and made acquaintance with her former mortal enemies. Times had definitely changed. Ahsoka sat up and rubbed her green orbs with the pads of her hands, glancing around at the minimalist-decorated room. On the opposite end of the room from the semi-circle couch was a balcony shrouded by a polarised sliding door. Deciding that her days of purpose-done meditation was behind her, the Togruta made her way over slowly, taking each of her steps firmly to reassure her subconscious that everything was real. Rex had quickly fallen asleep, obvious exhaustion from whatever he’d experienced breaking Barriss out overtaking his better senses of keeping watch. 

_ Barriss _ .

She was obviously okay. Whatever had plagued her heart and mind during the Temple Bombing had definitely worn away during her time in Republic prison, a time completely unknown to Ahsoka. Eventually,  _ eventually _ , she would venture a question into that territory; from the little she knew from Rex’s discoveries, though, that may not be the best idea. Clutching the handrail of the balcony with clammy hands, Ahsoka felt the world sway under her, suddenly feeling warm inside. She didn’t know why she was feeling this way, it was  _ powerful _ and betrayed her contemplations. Tangents of old friendship and later betrayal flashed quick in her mind but fell silent on her tongue as she continued to hold steady, vision blurred with this wave of passion. Force wave? Barriss. Letting go of the railing, she felt her knees give way, falling out from under her breathless self. Before she felt the splitting pain of her knees impacting the polished stone beneath her, a pair of arms looped under her armpits and held her up, small feminine grunts of stress letting Ahsoka know who it was. Gently laying her on the floor of the balcony, her vision filled with the peach-tinted evening sky was obscured by a blurred face, sudden tears muddling her eyesight to obscurity.

_ Why am I feeling this? What’s going on? _ And then all of a sudden it stopped. Ahsoka’s chest heaved as she wiped her eyes away, blinking up at Barriss who was gazing deep into her eyes with an almost  _ euphoric _ expression on her face. 

“I learned that,” she began, “when I was at my lowest point. The only thing I did there that had any lasting meaning to me.”

“What  _ is _ it?”

“I’ve called it Force projection,” she looked down, “but I know that has an… ironic double meaning. So, I guess, it doesn’t have a name. I can project my emotions out in waves to one or multiple people. It’s something I realised I could do as a healer, since one of the things we learn is to calm one’s mind by using our own serenity.”

“It’s… is that how you alerted me on Palanhi?”

“You felt that? I sensed someone’s presence and Rex wasn’t talking,” she frowned, “that was probably really dangerous, though, considering I didn’t know it was  _ you _ .”

“Dangerous, sure, but I knew that someone was in distress,” Ahsoka reached an arm into the air and twirled her fingers in the air, “I knew when I got the assignment  _ what _ I was dealing with. The  _ who _ just made it better.”

“Stop. You can’t possibly think that, I can’t allow it.”

“What I’m  _ allowed _ to think, Barriss, is up to me. And what I see is my friend; scared, flawed, broken, and reeling, but my friend. I said trust is necessary if we were going to work together, I need you to trust that what I think about you is truth,” she explained, moving her hand down to cup Barriss’s cheek. She meant it. 

“Okay,” Barriss breathed, huffing as she returned her stare to Ahsoka. Sure, there may be deep down some of her violent thought processes from the bombing, but Ahsoka searched her feelings for remaining anger and found nothing. All she sensed from her counterpart was tenderness, sorrow, and a contrasting happiness she’d never seen in Barriss before; it was an attaching kind of happiness, the kind Ahsoka had been told to suppress as a padawan.  _ Love? _ Then, all of a sudden, her emotions went silent, and her plain face returned.

“I also learned to suppress everything, both because of the war, because of the guards, and because I couldn’t show weakness,” her voice wavered as she said this, “but my suppression usually turns to sadness or anger, which I have to unleash eventually. I made everyone experience that on your ship and almost got us killed. What if the Separatists hadn’t been trying to capture us, but  _ eliminate _ us? What if the Empire had gotten us before they had? I don’t want to get any of you hurt, I just want to live in peace, I just want to see the galaxy not destroy itself, I just want to see you  _ happy _ aga—!” Sitting up to meet her opposite, Ahsoka pressed her lips to Barriss’s while squeezing her eyes shut. For a split moment, they stayed in that position; Barriss was stunned but content, and Ahsoka was passionately aware of what was happening. Pulling away, the two women sat back breathless and gaped at each other, communing by silent eye contact as flashes of a hundred different emotions coursed through them. Then, for the second time, those emotions fell silent, but not suppressed, instead as if Barriss had had a sobering realisation that broke the bubble of the moment.

“Barriss, I…,” Ahsoka trailed off, her voice raspy and weak as the Mirialan’s face fell and she retreated. Pulling herself against the balcony rail, Ahsoka watched in choked reticence as she disappeared into one of the bedrooms, unwilling to provoke her further. Mentally punching herself, she suddenly discovered she felt saddened at Barriss’s absence. In only four days, she had re-attained the feelings of friendship and comfort the two had shared before the fall of everything. In only four days, she’d begun to screw it up again. This wasn’t the first time this had happened; as the war was nearing its close, after the two had fought together at Umbara, Ahsoka had absently distanced herself from the Mirialan. While she and Anakin had been off on duties in the Outer Rim trying to wrangle the Separatists back into their original borders, Barriss had been hampered with missions as she and Master Unduli parted ways. The few moments Ahsoka had decided to check in on her friend’s mission logs, she found five or six more each time. According to reports from Commander Faie and Lieutenant Galle, she’d begun closing herself off, and during combat largely left the tactics to them. In conjunction with this, the last letter Ahsoka had sent through holo was left unread, probably still on her personal holotable up to Order 66. In hindsight, Ahsoka realised how dependent she and Barriss had been on each other after the Second Battle of Geonosis, and while Ahsoka understood this as fact, she also understood how pressing this much emotion into someone who had been cut off from it for so long was… overwhelming.

Deciding to let Barriss's emotions run their course, though, Ahsoka sat back and sighed. There wasn't anything she could logically or illogically do at this point, and while she wanted to go into the bedroom and comfort her, she knew that at this point that would just make it worse. She'd made a mistake doing that… kissing her. What was she thinking, doing that with a formerly devout Jedi? Letting her own muses and fantasies get the best of her in such a critical emotional situation for the Mirialan was, to her, a disgrace to her own judgement. 

She had little to say for herself, but she was realising what her unconscious mind already had; she had at least  _ some  _ kind of feelings for her counterpart. But, she thought, shouldn't she be disgusted? If she had figured all this out a year ago, she would have put a saber through her throat, but  _ now _ ? Now, she didn't know  _ what  _ to think. On one hand, she wanted to act on everything she felt; for how many Force-wielders may be left, she wasn't about to let their old rules get in her way. But on the other, she knew that neither of them were emotionally ready. 

Would they ever be?

 

\- - -

 

**_GET OUT OF MY HEAD._ **

_ "Barriss, did you do this?" _

_ "Padawan, where did I go wrong?" _

_ "A disgrace to Mirial." _

_ "A disappointment to the Order." _

_ "An outcast." _

_ "A murderer." _

_ "A traitor." _

**_STOP TORMENTING ME._ **

_ "66 has been ordered, why can't we off her?" _

_ "Let's have our fun." _

_ "What did I say about talking!" _

_ "Quiet, Jedi." _

_ "Scum." _

_ "Freak." _

_ "Dangerous." _

**_LET ME LIVE IN PEACE._ **

_ "Commander Fox, I'm assuming control of this facility, our new boss needs you out at the Temple." _

_ "Execute them one-by-one until she talks, we need that intel." _

_ "You're just like them, aren't you? A traitor to the Chancellor? A Jedi?" _

_ "If you say one word about this, girl, I will personally end you. This is our little secret." _

_ "Code red! Commandant, we have a breach, she's gotten—!" _

_ "Wolffe, Rex, I wasn't expecting to see you planetside so soon. Prisoner transfer? Where, the Citadel? W-wait, n—!" _

_ "Of all the ones we could have gotten out of there, why her? Why'd we get her? Isn't it right she's in there?" _

**_CAN I JUST FORGET IT ALL?_ **

 

\- - -

 

It was a familiar pain at this point, one she'd become almost numb to. At some moments, it overtook her, and she fell into a spiral of self-deprecating thoughts. At others, she simply sat back and waited for a means to an end. Already having run through all of the rush of thought when she had been gushing to Ahsoka, the bed under her felt like the greatest thing in the world to press against as she waited.  _ Waited. _

"Barriss?" came that sweet voice she'd tried to hard to forget. From the neon green and drab gray of the room, a burst of orange entered her vision. Bad timing, mentally.

"No," she replied absently, turning her head to look away from the Togruta. A myriad of bad outcomes flooded her subconscious self, influencing her conscious self to push the other woman out. 

_ I can't let her get between me and my emotions, caught in the middle. I'd just tear her apart. _

 

\- - -

 

**_I'VE ALREADY LOST ENOUGH._ **

_ Master. Apprentice. Jedi. Sith. Separatists. Republicans. Unduli. Mirial. Skywalker. Tano. Gree. Clones. Clothes. Lightsaber. Form. Rank. Health. Happiness. Menality. Innocence. Safety. War. Peace. Love. Hate. Distinction. Respect. Virginity. Tranquility. Stability. Haven. Home. _

**_HAVE YOU TAKEN ENOUGH?_ **

**_CAN YOU LEAVE?_ **

**_GET OUT._ **

**_I SAID GET OU—_ **

 

\- - -

 

Ahsoka collapsed and clutched a hand to her chest as the Force rippled around her, the sorrows of a thousand different events cascading inwards at her own aura. Somehow resisting the black edges to her vision, Ahsoka stumbled over to the door of the Barriss's bedroom and fumbled with the buttons. Finally getting it open, the Mirialan was a centimetre above the bed and various items were affixed midair. 

"Barriss!" Ahsoka called, met with only with groans of pain as the other woman struggled with what should could only imagine as a nightmare of sorts. The ripples only seemed to intensify, and Ahsoka's consciousness grew ever-dimmer as she limped over to the bed, reaching out her hands to make contact. Snagging one of her fingers on Barriss, Ahsoka pulled her down and wrapped her in a tight embrace. Pushing her mind into one of meditation, Barriss's mind cleared for a split second and entwined itself with the Togruta. Objects floated back to the ground, and Barriss opened her eyes, turning her head to meet Ahsoka's focus. Gripping her closer, she closed her eyes and envisioned the Force flowing around her, trying to figuratively reach into it. 

_ As the bird that swoops in to capture the fish, such a smooth motion it's as if the prey was made for the predator, so did I take hold of the Force for my own, pushing and pulling at the anomalies that presented themselves. _

It was a state of being Ahsoka had not experienced before, one of raw emotions. Had she learned this in the Temple, she would have reprimanded herself for giving into attachment. Now, however, she realised some of the shortcomings of those teachings, instead channeling her conscience harder. Their auras flexed and combined, with each others' thoughts and feelings bouncing around themselves in a surreal cacophony of thought and simultaneous action. Almost involuntarily, the two moved against each other, pushing over the other as they fought to gain mental control. Entering the threshold of the dark parts of Barriss's psyche, Ahsoka tried to calm her, enforcing her own feelings of care and urgency instead of the overcalculation and self-deprecation that had filled it. With a gasp, Barriss's eyes burst with tears, and the moment was over in an instant. Suddenly, Ahsoka found herself once again in the dimmed room holding the other woman tight to her chest. 

"It's okay, Barriss," Ahsoka murmured, "it's okay. I'm here for you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah yeah, Barriss POV. That'll happen more often from here on out.


End file.
